Abstract
“Excited delirium accounts for 1% of our EDP (emotionally disturbed persons) cases and 99% of our headaches.” This comment, made some years ago at a New York City conference of police chiefs captures the managerial and legal concerns of this entity. Police managers are concerned because their officers are suddenly confronted with psychotic, violent persons, which sets into motion an escalation of the use of force continuum, and death may occur despite the appropriate application of sublethal control techniques. The violent nature of the conflict, often witnessed by citizens and sometimes the news media, often leads to accusations of excessive use of force by the police, which in turn may engender community outrage. Subsequent civil litigation against the municipality, the police department, and the individual police officers is to be expected.
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© 2006 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
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Wetli, C.V. (2006). Excited Delirium. In: Ross, D.L., Chan, T.C. (eds) Sudden Deaths in Custody. Forensic Science and Medicine. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-015-7_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-015-7_7
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