Let us say I find someone keying my car…
Can I run up to them and claim citizens arrest then call the cops?
Can I grab hold of them if they try and run away?
IF they then attack me can I beat the crap out of them?
IANAL, but I believe that the concept of a Citizen’s Arrest is universal in the United States. That’s what gives store security guards or campus police the right to detain somebody.
However, I also belive that in all jurisdictions, a police officer can only arrest somebody who a) the officer has reason to believe has committed a felony or b) the officer has personally witnessed committing a misdemeanor.
What you’re describing probably isn’t a felony. If you can identify the person vandalizing your car, the wiser course of action would be to call the cops and simply report it. Even if you’re able to detain the person with reasonable force, I think the officer’s would simply issue them a ticket.
I couldn’t find any case law, but I suspect that you’d have a hard time defending on assault arrest on the grounds that you were trying to make a citizen’s arrest. A secuirty guard at Target, maybe, but a guy in a parking lot… probably not.
This has come up before. Bascially it has to be a felony or deputized by a law officer.
As I understand, Citizen’s Arrest allows you to force someone to remain in your custody until the police arrive (while not using excessive force). In you case, you wouldn’t be justified in physically restraining the person (I think that would be either battery or false imprisonment), but yelling at him and telling him you’re putting him under Citizen’s Arrest may scare him into staying (although that may be false imprisonment too…).
http://www.constitution.org/grossack/arrest.htm has some good details.
Going by keying a car alone, does anyone know the dollar amount of vandalism that bumps it to a felony? I know that depending on value of damage is a biggie in the difference of a misdemeanor and felony. I know if the guy keys a '75 Pacer, it’s probably less an offense than if it were a brand new Ferrari.
As far as being universal in the US, I’ve seen quite a few episodes of Cops, where the officer has the complainant place the suspect under C.A. after the suspect is cuffed in the back of a cruiser for class B misdemeanors.
I’ve always been curious about this myself. One of my BiL’s is a lawyer, I’ll see if I can get hold of him and get something more concrete. At least more concrete in our state.
I saw this for the first time a few days ago. A trucker got ripped off by two hookers and wanted to press charges. The cop looked really annoyed and tried to talk him out of pressing charges and then we they found the hookers he made the truck driver tell them they were under arrest.
What’s up with that?
I’d imagine that the cop doesn’t want it on his record that he went through with something so stupid and maybe to arrest the trucker too (since he was committing an illegal act himself). Also, CA appears to just give one the right to hold the felon (not a suspected felon) until the police arrive. It’s not like you can take them to the station and book them yourself. Unless you’re in Kentucky, where you can kill the guy.
It would make a big difference if the vehicle is on your property.
In Texas you better believe you have the right to protect your property. That is one of Texas great laws.
I AM the only person who heard Gomer Pyle right???
Warning: that’s scary if you have your speakers up too loud.
Funny, that’s the clip that always goes through my head one someone says citizens arrest.
ok, I can’t understand gomer pyle. What is he saying?
So I can only citizens arrest someone if I see them committing a felony?
Why not misdemeanors?
What exactly constitutes a felony anyway?
Here’s a description of the differences: http://criminal.findlaw.com/articles/1382.html
The difference is whether you get sent to a city jail or county prison.
I’ve actually performed a citizen’s arrest before.
I had a crazy-psycho next door neigbor (in a duplex) who decided to start playing her music at full blast every night. I’d done the polite, go over and ask her to turn it down thing and she’d told me to f@#% off. After that I just called the police. They always responded quickly and even took her to jail one night when she refused to turn the music off and barricaded herself in her bedroom, forcing the officers to break down her bedroom door to turn off the stereo…apparently she got violent with them on that occasion.
Anyway, after 3 more nights of me calling the cops and them coming out and warning her then leaving, and her turning the music back on, and me calling them again…lather, rinse, repeat…one of the officers took pity on me asked me if I’d like to get some sleep that night. He said that they couldn’t arrest her because they couldn’t hear the music from the street ( X-amount of feet away from the house or somesuch) even though inside my apartment they could hear it loud and clear, but I could do a citizen’s arrest and they’d have to take her to jail for the night.
So, I stood on my front porch in my ratty bathrobe an looked this handcuffed psycho-woman in the eye and said (as prompted by the officer) “Tamara, you are under arrest for disturbing my peace.” Then the nice officers took her away in her handcuffs and I got one peaceful night’s sleep. 
If you’re wondering…I did eventually get her evicted, but it took 30 days, and she made me pay for having her arrested twice…although I could usually get several hours of sleep just by banging on the wall and screaming at her to turn it off or I’d call the cops and let her spend another night in jail. :rolleyes:
It’s a fourth amendment issue. In Atwater, the Supreme Court held that a warantless arrest may be made for a minor criminal offense. Prior to that, common law prohibited police from making misdemeanor arrests except in cases of breach of the peace. Despite the ruling in Atwater, this is still the law and practice in most (perhaps all) states. The rationale was that if the penalty for the offense would not include jail time, a custodial arrest was not reasonable.
In the particular case, Atwater was arrested, booked, and helf for several hours for a seatbelt violation, the maximum penalty for which was a $50 fine. She argued that the arrest violated her right to be free from nreasonable seizure. For those interested , the case was Atwater vs City of Lago Vista (2001).
The rules for Citizen’s Arrests do vary somewhat from state to state, as do the rules for when cops can make an arrest.
In many states, a police officer cannot arrest for a misdemeanor that isn’t committed in his presence. In some cases, the officer will have the citizen who witnessed the crime make a citizen’s arrest, then the officer can take over. And if it turns out later that there was no probable cause to make the arrest, the citizen is the one who gets sued for false arrest.
We don’t do that in Washington state. I can arrest for a long list of misdemeanor crimes (list) even if they don’t occur in my presence. I’ve never once dealt with an actual citizen’s arrest.
What constitutes a felony varies widely from state to state. In Washington, theft or vandalism that is worth over $250 is a felony.
Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes!
Did you just type your sig?
SO’s make citizens arrests. They do not have any special arrest powers above and beyond anyone on the street. They do usually have a few more tools on hand to facilitate it (handcuffs, takedown training)
Is this the same for over here in the UK, if anyone knows?
Also:
So there you are, in a bathrobe on you front porch, “arresting” your neighbour and she’s the crazy one… 
I would have loved to see that, and the smile on your face.
That’s county jail and state prison.
Uh oh. You mean I’ve been going to the wrong place this whole time?
Thanks for the correction. Lemme make sure I got this right: if I get taken into custody by the cops and I’m in holding until such time that I get transferred to jail where I stay until the trial, where, if found guilty and given some hard time to do, I move to prison?