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Legal for me to "detain" teeange mischief makers?

J

JoeFahey

Platinum Member
I was waiting for the light to turn green at an intersection when a young boy in a group of 4 hurled a large rock are my car. Fortunately, the kid has poor aim and it just skimmed the roof. As they walked away, much to their surprise, I floored it and pulled a u-turn to follow them. After getting out and beginning to chase them with my friend, who was riding with me, we realized they had gotten too far ahead since we lost time finding a place to park the car.

With all of the obvious advice aside (they could have had weapons, they outnumbered us), what could we actually do if we caught up to one of them? By this point I didn't know if there was damage to the car, and I just wanted to have one of them with me when the police showed up so they could be held responsible for repair payments. Could I legally hold on to one of them until the cops showed?
 
Yes... it's called Citizens Arrest.

Each state, with the exception of North Carolina, permits citizen arrests if the commission of a felony is witnessed by the arresting citizen, or when a citizen is asked to assist in the apprehension of a suspect by police. The application of state laws varies widely with respect to misdemeanors, breaches of the peace, and felonies not witnessed by the arresting party. For example, Arizona law allows a citizen's arrest only for a misdemeanor which disturbs the peace, and only if the arrestor has personally witnessed the offense occurring.

American citizens do not carry the authority or enjoy the legal protections held by police officers, and are held to the principle of strict liability before the courts of civil- and criminal law including, but not limited to, any infringement of another's rights. Nonetheless many citizens' arrests are popular news stories and criminal prosecutions in clearly justifiable cases are rare
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If its a felony, yes. But in this case, sounds more like a misdemeanor. Most prosecutors will overlook it as long as you didn't use injurious force. i.e. if the kid starts fighting with you and may require you to use escalated force that could conceivably injure him, then let him go if you are not certain the offense rose to the level of a felony.
 
Is there something you're not telling us? It's hard to believe a kid would just throw a rock at you for no reason.
 
M0RPH said:
Is there something you're not telling us? It's hard to believe a kid would just throw a rock at you for no reason.
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I've ridden PT in major cities.

it's like...part of the route, kids and rocks.


This is why Paperboy is so difficult at level 35.
 
frostedflakes said:
But is property damage a felony? In this case I'd assume the damage would be minor enough for it to be a misdemeanor.
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Depending upon the wording of the statute in your state it might depend on the total dollar amount of the damage.

For Example... in colorado:

Less than $500 - Class 2 Misdemeanor
$500 to $1,000 - Class 1 Misdemeanor
$1,000 to $20,000 - Class 4 Felony
More than $20,000 - Class 3 Felony

Depending on what was damaged... it could easily hit $1,000+
 
M0RPH said:
Is there something you're not telling us? It's hard to believe a kid would just throw a rock at you for no reason.
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No it's not.

I go running 3 - 4 times/week through my neighborhood and several others. Not only is it a nice area, but I'm pretty athletic. Kids still shout shit as I'm running by because they know I can't do/say anything to them.

Not surprisingly, the 18 - 20 year olds stfu. It's the 12 - 14 year olds that are a problem.

When I was their age, I did the same thing. Looking back, it's not like I was trying to be a dick to the other person (it wasn't personal), it was just a bit of a rush to see what I could get away with.

So yeah, a little punk throwing a rock at a car without any provocation is totally conceivable.
 
Not worth the risk of prison imo.

Also, you should have considered the possibility of things going bad for you before you jumped out of your car to chase them.
 
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JoeFahey said:
I was waiting for the light to turn green at an intersection when a young boy in a group of 4 hurled a large rock are my car. Fortunately, the kid has poor aim and it just skimmed the roof. As they walked away, much to their surprise, I floored it and pulled a u-turn to follow them. After getting out and beginning to chase them with my friend, who was riding with me, we realized they had gotten too far ahead since we lost time finding a place to park the car.

With all of the obvious advice aside (they could have had weapons, they outnumbered us), what could we actually do if we caught up to one of them? By this point I didn't know if there was damage to the car, and I just wanted to have one of them with me when the police showed up so they could be held responsible for repair payments. Could I legally hold on to one of them until the cops showed?
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OP, simply call your local PD and ask them. I have called my city PD a few times in the past and they were very helpful. I may not have liked their answers to my questions ... but they were helpful.
 
M0RPH said:
Is there something you're not telling us? It's hard to believe a kid would just throw a rock at you for no reason.
Click to expand...

My friends liked throwing rocks at cars, I watched a few times. It was all good until they threw a rock at the wrong car. Big ass dude found them and beat one of their asses. I don't think they did it again after.
 
Yes you can do it but it's a bad idea. You had better know exactly what you are doing. There are too many things that could go wrong and you could end up arrested or sued.
 
Better to shoot them in self defense. Make sure you get them in the center body mass with a 40 cal or higher.
 
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I did something similar once, got away with it. I won't do that again. The risks are too great, all the awareness about predators and child abuse can put you on the wrong side of the law in a hurry.
 
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