Tennessee v. Garner On October 3, 1974, at approximately 10:45 p.m., Memphis Police received a call for a "hobo domestic call." Police officers Elton Hymon and Leslie Wright were dispatched to respond to the call. Once they arrived on scene, there was a woman standing on the porch and gesturing towards the house next door, she told them she heard glass breaking and that "they" or "someone" was forcing open the door next door. While Wright communicated by radio, Hymon went back behind the house. He heard a door slam and saw someone running across the courtyard. The fleeing suspect, who was Edward Garner, stopped at a 6-foot-tall chain-link fence at the edge of the yard. With the use of a flashlight, Hymon was able to see Garner's face and hands: there was no sign of a weapon, although Hymon was not sure whether Garner was unarmed. He thought Garner was 17 or 18 years old and about 5' 5" or 5' 7" tall. While Garner was crouched at the base of the fence, Hymon called "police, stop" and took a few steps toward him and Garner then began to climb over the fence. I was convinced of it, if Garner could pull it off...