I know of no law requiring U.S. citizens to carry identification in public.
Do we need such law?
If a citizen displayed such identity as government agents approached, might it avoid trouble?
Not in all cases.
The following murder occurred when the student reached for and displayed his identification.
Killing of Amadou Diallo
In the early hours of February 4, 1999, an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean student named
Amadou Diallo (born September 2, 1975) was struck with 19 of 41 rounds fired by four New York City Police Department plainclothes officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss. Carroll later claimed to have mistaken Diallo for a rape suspect from one year earlier.
The four officers, who were part of the Street Crime Unit, which had expanded in size under mayor Rudy Giuliani, were charged with second-degree murder and acquitted at trial in Albany, New York. A firestorm of controversy erupted after the event, as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both within and beyond New York City. Issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, and contagious shooting were central to the ensuing controversy.
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