# Can you legally strand someone in an unpopulated or dangerous area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987 "2009-12-04T15:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/21 "2009-12-04T21:43:27Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Though I have to wonder what would have happened if he had been unable to make it back to civilization and expired due to thirst, freezing, whatever. Then when later his body was discovered they found an entry in his journal, “ **kayaker** stopped on [date] but then drove away when he saw who I was.” You’re not typically on the hook for a failure to render aid. But it’s a dick move, even if the guy had prior transgressions with you. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/22 "2009-12-05T00:05:15Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > You’re not typically on the hook for a failure to render aid. But it’s a dick move, even if the guy had prior transgressions with you. Nope. Its karma coming back to bite the guy in the ass. If he hadn’t stolen the money from Kayaker, he would have been happy to help the guy out. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/23 "2009-12-05T00:12:04Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Never saw him again, period. You won twice. I hope you said some nasty words or extended a digit before you drove off 🙂 Oh, and I hope somebody told him he had pretty teeth before all was said and done. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/24 "2009-12-05T01:07:26Z")
> [@Noelq](#): > > Nope. Its karma coming back to bite the guy in the ass. If he hadn’t stolen the money from Kayaker, he would have been happy to help the guy out. that’s not karma, it’s being a dick. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/25 "2009-12-05T01:26:57Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > that’s not karma, it’s being a dick. Its both. Sometimes the universe bends you over for good reason. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/26 "2009-12-05T01:39:47Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Though I have to wonder what would have happened if he had been unable to make it back to civilization and expired due to thirst, freezing, whatever. Then when later his body was discovered they found an entry in his journal, “ **kayaker** stopped on [date] but then drove away when he saw who I was.” reasonable expectation that someone else would be along. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/27 "2009-12-05T01:49:18Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Sometimes the universe bends you over for good reason. Now there’s a sig if I ever saw one. That being said, the charitable thing to do might be to offer a helping hand even to those you feel have wronged you. If everybody did that, the world might be a bit better place. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/28 "2009-12-05T01:58:44Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > . > > That being said, the charitable thing to do might be to offer a helping hand even to those you feel have wronged you. If everybody did that, the world might be a bit better place. You know what they did to the last guy to suggest stuff like that a few thousand years ago ? Upon further reflection, I would have given the guy a ride. But not before spending about 30 minutes pulling the old “get in, quickly move the car up a few feet, come on get in..rinse, lather repeat”. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/29 "2009-12-05T05:27:29Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > oh christ, this brings up bad memories 😉 If I recall bar studying correctly, at the common law (note this is all probably changed by statute) > > Kidnapping is the unlawful imprisonment AND movement of a person > > FI, in addition to being a tort, is complete upon unlawful imprisonment - no movement necessary. Just wanted to point out that this isn’t always true. Otherwise OJ might still be free to scour the golf courses of South Florida for Nicole’s killer or killers. > [@NRS 200.310](#): > > 1. **A person who willfully seizes, confines, inveigles, entices, decoys, abducts, conceals, kidnaps or carries away a person by any means whatsoever with the intent to hold or detain, or who holds or detains** , the person for ransom, or reward, or for the purpose of committing sexual assault, extortion or robbery upon or from the person, or for the purpose of killing the person or inflicting substantial bodily harm upon him, or to exact from relatives, friends, or any other person any money or valuable thing for the return or disposition of the kidnapped person, and a person who leads, takes, entices, or carries away or detains any minor with the intent to keep, imprison, or confine him from his parents, guardians, or any other person having lawful custody of the minor, or with the intent to hold the minor to unlawful service, or perpetrate upon the person of the minor any unlawful act\*\* is guilty of kidnapping in the first degree which is a category A felony\*\*. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/30 "2009-12-05T05:41:25Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Just wanted to point out that this isn’t always true. Otherwise OJ might still be free to scour the golf courses of South Florida for Nicole’s killer or killers. I said “at the common law”. Modern criminal statutes have modified traditional common law definitions of crimes quite substantially, as your cite points out. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/31 "2009-12-05T06:19:49Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > You’re not typically on the hook for a failure to render aid. But it’s a dick move, even if the guy had prior transgressions with you. > [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > that’s not karma, it’s being a dick. **Rumor\_Watkins** , as you know (since you’ve been warned for it before), personal insults are not permitted in General Questions. If you continue to violate forum rules, you may find your posting privileges in jeopardy. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/32 "2009-12-05T06:45:42Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > **Rumor\_Watkins** , as you know (since you’ve been warned for it before), personal insults are not permitted in General Questions. If you continue to violate forum rules, you may find your posting privileges in jeopardy. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator I’m sorry, where did I personally insult anyone? Your first quote is a quote where I stated that someone stranding someone on an abandoned stretch of road is a dick move, regardless of the stranded person’s past transgressions. Characterizing someone’s actions to illustrate a general opinion about an action is not the same as personally insulting someone, sorry. Second quote is my characterizing the same act as that of one who is being a dick, and not as a characterization of karma. Same thing. I never responded to kayaker directly - all posts were derivative. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/33 "2009-12-05T07:14:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I stopped and the guy approached my window. I immediately recognized the guy as the person who had defrauded my business out of some money about a year previously. The second I saw who it was, I put my vehicle in gear and drove off. > . But, you see if you had rescued him, you’d have been on the moral high ground. Back to the OP, I am guessing that if someone got into your car willingly, but then assaulted you or something, you could order them out, even if it was in the middle of no-where? Lawyers, what say you?😕 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/34 "2009-12-05T14:34:19Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > I never responded to kayaker directly - all posts were derivative. And if it helps, I will admit to being a dick (and to this day proud of it) on that occasion. If I told the details of the situation, some people might agree with what I did. I have helped numerous people in my life with rides/money/a place to stay. But this particular guy, even if I had foreknowledge that he woulda died as a result of my actions, sorry…no ride for you! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/35 "2009-12-05T16:18:29Z")
FWIW, a few decades back this stunt was a common feature of fraternity hazing. They would grab a pledge, stuff them into a car, confiscate their wallet, drive them someplace and dump them. Usually, it was just a couple hours out from campus on a highway in the middle of nowhere, and the pledge wound up hitching rides back. Occasionally, you heard stories of them doing something nastier, like dumping the poor sod without ID in, say, North Philly. One reason I was never terribly interested in joining a fraternity (I also went to school at a time when fraternity and sorority membership was at a very low point). Probably went by the boards with several other practices during one of the intervals where schools were cracking down on dangerous hazing by the fraternities. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/36 "2009-12-05T16:39:14Z")
By no means is it a ‘dick move’ to refuse to provide roadside assistance to someone who has previously done you harm. I’d go so far as to say that you’d have to be a moron to pick that person up and chance them putting you at further risk. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/37 "2009-12-05T17:28:42Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I’d go so far as to say that you’d have to be a moron to pick that person up and chance them putting you at further risk. Is that a personal insult to me? MODERATOR??? (obv. this is TIC, but TIC to make a point 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/38 "2009-12-05T17:32:39Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > By no means is it a ‘dick move’ to refuse to provide roadside assistance to someone who has previously done you harm. I’d go so far as to say that you’d have to be a moron to pick that person up and chance them putting you at further risk. The “harm” seemed to be only financial. Certainly, if we saw a dude stranded on the highway, and that dude had assaulted us some time ago, no one would expect you to risk yourself. However, what sort of risk of being hit again with \*“defrauded my business out of some money” \* occurs in a short car ride?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/39 "2009-12-05T17:38:16Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > I’m sorry, where did I personally insult anyone? > > Your first quote is a quote where I stated that someone stranding someone on an abandoned stretch of road is a dick move, regardless of the stranded person’s past transgressions. Characterizing someone’s actions to illustrate a general opinion about an action is not the same as personally insulting someone, sorry. > > Second quote is my characterizing the same act as that of one who is being a dick, and not as a characterization of karma. Same thing. > > I never responded to kayaker directly - all posts were derivative. [Moderating] Sorry, this kind of back-handed insult is not permitted either. If a poster says he performed some act, and you say that anyone who would do that is a dick, that still constitutes an insult. **Rumor\_Watkins** , some of your other posts in this forum have been unnecessarily abrasive as well. Once again, I am strongly advising you to tone down your remarks here. Any further discussion of my moderating should be taken to ATMB. Any further discussion of who is or isn’t a dick should be taken to the Pit. > [@kayaker](#): > > And if it helps, I will admit to being a dick (and to this day proud of it) on that occasion. If I told the details of the situation, some people might agree with what I did. I have helped numerous people in my life with rides/money/a place to stay. But this particular guy, even if I had foreknowledge that he woulda died as a result of my actions, sorry…no ride for you! Even so, that does not give others a pass to call you that in GQ. They are free to take issue with your actions, but that should be done in the Pit. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987/40 "2009-12-05T17:55:23Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I’d go so far as to say that you’d have to be a moron to pick that person up and chance them putting you at further risk. [Moderator note] Once again, personal insults are not permitted in GQ. Since **Rumor\_Watkins** had just implied he would have picked the person up, this constitutes an insult toward him. Do not do this again. I see that you have not had recent warnings in GQ, so I am making this a moderator note rather than a formal warning, since it is essentially a first offense. In the event anyone sees this as not being even-handed, I’ll point out that I gave **Rumor\_Watkins** two moderator notes in this forum before issuing my first official warning to him several months ago. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legally-strand-someone-in-an-unpopulated-or-dangerous-area/519987.md?page=3)