PHILADELPHIA — The three Sharon Hill police officers who fired at a car at a high school football game in August, killing 8-year-old Fanta Bility, apparently did so in violation of the department’s use-of-force policy, according to documents reviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
That policy, adopted in January 2016, bars officers from discharging their weapons “when it appears likely that an innocent person may be injured” and also prohibits them from firing at moving vehicles except in self defense or in defense of another.
Such prohibitions are common among police departments — Philadelphia’s policy is almost identical — and policing experts say they afford important protections to bystanders and others during chaotic situations, such as shootings.
