diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ExecutorAllocationManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ExecutorAllocationManager.scala
index b93536e6536e..6419218f47c8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ExecutorAllocationManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ExecutorAllocationManager.scala
@@ -509,6 +509,7 @@ private[spark] class ExecutorAllocationManager(
   private def onExecutorBusy(executorId: String): Unit = synchronized {
     logDebug(s"Clearing idle timer for $executorId because it is now running a task")
     removeTimes.remove(executorId)
+    executorsPendingToRemove.remove(executorId)
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
index a6857b4c7d88..3178850a4745 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
@@ -1451,7 +1451,7 @@ class SparkContext(config: SparkConf) extends Logging with ExecutorAllocationCli
   override def killExecutors(executorIds: Seq[String]): Boolean = {
     schedulerBackend match {
       case b: CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend =>
-        b.killExecutors(executorIds)
+        b.killExecutors(executorIds, replace = false, force = true)
       case _ =>
         logWarning("Killing executors is only supported in coarse-grained mode")
         false
@@ -1489,7 +1489,7 @@ class SparkContext(config: SparkConf) extends Logging with ExecutorAllocationCli
   private[spark] def killAndReplaceExecutor(executorId: String): Boolean = {
     schedulerBackend match {
       case b: CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend =>
-        b.killExecutors(Seq(executorId), replace = true)
+        b.killExecutors(Seq(executorId), replace = true, force = true)
       case _ =>
         logWarning("Killing executors is only supported in coarse-grained mode")
         false
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/TaskSchedulerImpl.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/TaskSchedulerImpl.scala
index 1c7bfe89c02a..576b3b487abd 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/TaskSchedulerImpl.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/TaskSchedulerImpl.scala
@@ -87,8 +87,8 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
   // Incrementing task IDs
   val nextTaskId = new AtomicLong(0)
 
-  // Which executor IDs we have executors on
-  val activeExecutorIds = new HashSet[String]
+  // Number of tasks running on each executor
+  private val executorIdToTaskCount = new HashMap[String, Int]
 
   // The set of executors we have on each host; this is used to compute hostsAlive, which
   // in turn is used to decide when we can attain data locality on a given host
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
             val tid = task.taskId
             taskIdToTaskSetManager(tid) = taskSet
             taskIdToExecutorId(tid) = execId
+            executorIdToTaskCount(execId) += 1
             executorsByHost(host) += execId
             availableCpus(i) -= CPUS_PER_TASK
             assert(availableCpus(i) >= 0)
@@ -282,7 +283,7 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
     var newExecAvail = false
     for (o <- offers) {
       executorIdToHost(o.executorId) = o.host
-      activeExecutorIds += o.executorId
+      executorIdToTaskCount.getOrElseUpdate(o.executorId, 0)
       if (!executorsByHost.contains(o.host)) {
         executorsByHost(o.host) = new HashSet[String]()
         executorAdded(o.executorId, o.host)
@@ -331,7 +332,8 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
         if (state == TaskState.LOST && taskIdToExecutorId.contains(tid)) {
           // We lost this entire executor, so remember that it's gone
           val execId = taskIdToExecutorId(tid)
-          if (activeExecutorIds.contains(execId)) {
+
+          if (executorIdToTaskCount.contains(execId)) {
             removeExecutor(execId,
               SlaveLost(s"Task $tid was lost, so marking the executor as lost as well."))
             failedExecutor = Some(execId)
@@ -341,7 +343,11 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
           case Some(taskSet) =>
             if (TaskState.isFinished(state)) {
               taskIdToTaskSetManager.remove(tid)
-              taskIdToExecutorId.remove(tid)
+              taskIdToExecutorId.remove(tid).foreach { execId =>
+                if (executorIdToTaskCount.contains(execId)) {
+                  executorIdToTaskCount(execId) -= 1
+                }
+              }
             }
             if (state == TaskState.FINISHED) {
               taskSet.removeRunningTask(tid)
@@ -462,7 +468,7 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
     var failedExecutor: Option[String] = None
 
     synchronized {
-      if (activeExecutorIds.contains(executorId)) {
+      if (executorIdToTaskCount.contains(executorId)) {
         val hostPort = executorIdToHost(executorId)
         logError("Lost executor %s on %s: %s".format(executorId, hostPort, reason))
         removeExecutor(executorId, reason)
@@ -484,7 +490,8 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
 
   /** Remove an executor from all our data structures and mark it as lost */
   private def removeExecutor(executorId: String, reason: ExecutorLossReason) {
-    activeExecutorIds -= executorId
+    executorIdToTaskCount -= executorId
+
     val host = executorIdToHost(executorId)
     val execs = executorsByHost.getOrElse(host, new HashSet)
     execs -= executorId
@@ -518,7 +525,11 @@ private[spark] class TaskSchedulerImpl(
   }
 
   def isExecutorAlive(execId: String): Boolean = synchronized {
-    activeExecutorIds.contains(execId)
+    executorIdToTaskCount.contains(execId)
+  }
+
+  def isExecutorBusy(execId: String): Boolean = synchronized {
+    executorIdToTaskCount.getOrElse(execId, -1) > 0
   }
 
   // By default, rack is unknown
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala
index 55a564b5c8ea..9dc1d59f5f45 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ class CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend(scheduler: TaskSchedulerImpl, val rpcEnv: Rp
    * @return whether the kill request is acknowledged.
    */
   final override def killExecutors(executorIds: Seq[String]): Boolean = synchronized {
-    killExecutors(executorIds, replace = false)
+    killExecutors(executorIds, replace = false, force = false)
   }
 
   /**
@@ -419,9 +419,13 @@ class CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend(scheduler: TaskSchedulerImpl, val rpcEnv: Rp
    *
    * @param executorIds identifiers of executors to kill
    * @param replace whether to replace the killed executors with new ones
+   * @param force whether to force kill busy executors
    * @return whether the kill request is acknowledged.
    */
-  final def killExecutors(executorIds: Seq[String], replace: Boolean): Boolean = synchronized {
+  final def killExecutors(
+      executorIds: Seq[String],
+      replace: Boolean,
+      force: Boolean): Boolean = synchronized {
     logInfo(s"Requesting to kill executor(s) ${executorIds.mkString(", ")}")
     val (knownExecutors, unknownExecutors) = executorIds.partition(executorDataMap.contains)
     unknownExecutors.foreach { id =>
@@ -429,7 +433,10 @@ class CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend(scheduler: TaskSchedulerImpl, val rpcEnv: Rp
     }
 
     // If an executor is already pending to be removed, do not kill it again (SPARK-9795)
-    val executorsToKill = knownExecutors.filter { id => !executorsPendingToRemove.contains(id) }
+    // If this executor is busy, do not kill it unless we are told to force kill it (SPARK-9552)
+    val executorsToKill = knownExecutors
+      .filter { id => !executorsPendingToRemove.contains(id) }
+      .filter { id => force || !scheduler.isExecutorBusy(id) }
     executorsPendingToRemove ++= executorsToKill
 
     // If we do not wish to replace the executors we kill, sync the target number of executors
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/StandaloneDynamicAllocationSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/StandaloneDynamicAllocationSuite.scala
index d145e78834b1..2fa795f84666 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/StandaloneDynamicAllocationSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/StandaloneDynamicAllocationSuite.scala
@@ -17,10 +17,11 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.deploy
 
+import scala.collection.mutable
 import scala.concurrent.duration._
 
 import org.mockito.Mockito.{mock, when}
-import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfterAll
+import org.scalatest.{BeforeAndAfterAll, PrivateMethodTester}
 import org.scalatest.concurrent.Eventually._
 
 import org.apache.spark._
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.deploy.master.ApplicationInfo
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.master.Master
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.worker.Worker
 import org.apache.spark.rpc.{RpcAddress, RpcEndpointRef, RpcEnv}
+import org.apache.spark.scheduler.TaskSchedulerImpl
 import org.apache.spark.scheduler.cluster._
 import org.apache.spark.scheduler.cluster.CoarseGrainedClusterMessages.RegisterExecutor
 
@@ -38,7 +40,8 @@ import org.apache.spark.scheduler.cluster.CoarseGrainedClusterMessages.RegisterE
 class StandaloneDynamicAllocationSuite
   extends SparkFunSuite
   with LocalSparkContext
-  with BeforeAndAfterAll {
+  with BeforeAndAfterAll
+  with PrivateMethodTester {
 
   private val numWorkers = 2
   private val conf = new SparkConf()
@@ -404,6 +407,41 @@ class StandaloneDynamicAllocationSuite
     assert(apps.head.getExecutorLimit === 1)
   }
 
+  test("disable force kill for busy executors (SPARK-9552)") {
+    sc = new SparkContext(appConf)
+    val appId = sc.applicationId
+    eventually(timeout(10.seconds), interval(10.millis)) {
+      val apps = getApplications()
+      assert(apps.size === 1)
+      assert(apps.head.id === appId)
+      assert(apps.head.executors.size === 2)
+      assert(apps.head.getExecutorLimit === Int.MaxValue)
+    }
+    var apps = getApplications()
+    // sync executors between the Master and the driver, needed because
+    // the driver refuses to kill executors it does not know about
+    syncExecutors(sc)
+    val executors = getExecutorIds(sc)
+    assert(executors.size === 2)
+
+    // simulate running a task on the executor
+    val getMap = PrivateMethod[mutable.HashMap[String, Int]]('executorIdToTaskCount)
+    val taskScheduler = sc.taskScheduler.asInstanceOf[TaskSchedulerImpl]
+    val executorIdToTaskCount = taskScheduler invokePrivate getMap()
+    executorIdToTaskCount(executors.head) = 1
+    // kill the busy executor without force; this should fail
+    assert(killExecutor(sc, executors.head, force = false))
+    apps = getApplications()
+    assert(apps.head.executors.size === 2)
+
+    // force kill busy executor
+    assert(killExecutor(sc, executors.head, force = true))
+    apps = getApplications()
+    // kill executor successfully
+    assert(apps.head.executors.size === 1)
+
+  }
+
   // ===============================
   // | Utility methods for testing |
   // ===============================
@@ -455,6 +493,16 @@ class StandaloneDynamicAllocationSuite
     sc.killExecutors(getExecutorIds(sc).take(n))
   }
 
+  /** Kill the given executor, specifying whether to force kill it. */
+  private def killExecutor(sc: SparkContext, executorId: String, force: Boolean): Boolean = {
+    syncExecutors(sc)
+    sc.schedulerBackend match {
+      case b: CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend =>
+        b.killExecutors(Seq(executorId), replace = false, force)
+      case _ => fail("expected coarse grained scheduler")
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Return a list of executor IDs belonging to this application.
    *