Self-defense, excess self-defense or neither? There is no “specific manual” for a deadly incident involving a PSP agent and a kidnapper

The couple robbed and kidnapped a PSP agent in the early hours of Monday, forcing him to go to the ATM and then home. Once in his room, the police managed to get to his service weapon and killed the robber.

It is necessary to know what really happened between the PSP agent and the robber who kidnapped him this morning, lawyer Rogério Alves tells CNN Portugal, to understand which scenario is at stake: self-defense, excessive self-defense or neither one nor the other . Police regulations do not talk about kidnapping situations.

“There is no specific manual on situations like these”, a police source explains to CNN Portugal, explaining that there are only “firearm threat” scenarios. At issue is an unusual case that took place in the early hours of this Monday in Algés, when a PSP agent was approached by a couple and, under threat of a firearm, forced to go to the ATM and later to his house.

“Threat situations are duly regulated and with means that can be used to prevent these threats, this follows from the principle of self-defense”, begins by explaining the same source, which speaks of “proportionality of means”. In a situation where “human life is at stake” and the suspect has a firearm, the use of a firearm is, he says, legitimized.”

The use of firearms is then permitted to “prevent any act that puts the life of oneself (the police officer) or third parties at risk”. “When the individual has a sharp or blunt weapon, such as a baton, a knife or a sword, and is the same height as the police officer, a firearm can be used, especially because it can jeopardize physical integrity,” he says. , explaining that, if the individual is a short distance away – one or two meters – the weapon should be fired at a place that “immediately leaves them incapacitated”.

That’s precisely what the agent did – when they arrived at his residence, in Benfica, the PSP agent ended up managing to access his service weapon, shooting at one of the suspects, hitting him in the chest area.

“The intention is never to kill, but to prevent people from killing us or causing injuries to others”, continues the source, highlighting the difficulty and tension of a situation like this due to having “a fraction of seconds to react”.

The agent belonged to the Personal Security Corps of the Special Police Unit, but for the source this should not be taken into account in these situations. “Nobody is highly trained for situations like this, nobody is training every day to be robbed – they are trained to defend others, not themselves”, he guarantees.

According to the source, the couple in question has a criminal record. “This couple has a record, they are well accredited in committing crimes”, she admits, warning that “preventive arrests should be used to remove those who truly jeopardize security from the streets”.

For Rogério Alves, regardless of what is reported in the media, it is necessary to “understand what actually happened”.

“We need to know how the events happened. Under what conditions did it happen? Was there self-defense, excess self-defense or neither one nor the other?”, he asks.

Without this, we are left with “a very wide bandwidth, ranging from self-defense to cold-blooded murder”. Only from there is it possible to understand what type of convictions (or lack thereof) may be on the table.

“If it is considered that there is premeditated murder, without risk, in cold blood, we can talk about a prison sentence of between eight and 16 years”, says the lawyer. “Yes, he is being robbed, but we have to see if the shot was necessary to repel him”, he adds.

If the agent’s act was in self-defense, as if the police officer told the assailant that he would take him to the police station and he reacted by grabbing a gun, Rogério Alves explains that “it is no longer punishable”. “It can be considered that the act carried out was necessary to prevent the attack.”

On the other hand, if it turns out that there was “excessive self-defense”, the act is “illegal”, confirms lawyer Rogério Alves, but the penalty can be “especially mitigated”.

The case ended with the alleged accomplice being arrested by the PSP. According to a source from the Judiciary Police (PJ), the homicide prevention service received a call from the PSP at around 5:00 am reporting that a law enforcement agent had fatally shot a suspected robbery suspect in his residence.