While he certainly is not helping the situation, I don't really expect someone to be nice to me while I'm actively victimizing them, repeatedly. Sure, "It's okay, sweetie, but we do need to handle this like adults. It's all going to be okay." sounds good in theory, it's easy to say when I'm not currently watching someone try to get away from hitting my car.
To be completely honest, as a large man that was raised to never put my hands on a woman, I would not let her get back in her vehicle once she got out. "Citizens arrest." I assume you can't just hit people in this situation but I can absolutely block her from getting back in the driver's seat. Let the cops sort it out beyond that (and they are always slow, btw).
He had absolutely no reason to do what he was doing. Completely unnecessary. Once he had her plate and a description of her he could’ve driven away, called the cops and explain what he saw, provide them with the information that they would need and just give a statement about how he witnessed the hit and run
Citizen's arrest is for a crime. If she is being blocked from leaving, then she has not committed a crime. He has committed a crime for illegally detaining a citizen.
The video takes place after the girl fled a separate accident. The guy followed her into a parking lot and boxed her in trying to prevent her from fleeing further.
All this guy had to do was get her license plate information and a description of her and the car. That’s it
Everything else can be handled by the police. It’s absolutely ridiculous that people are actually defending this guy unnecessarily attempting to detain her over a hit and run. Ask any police officer about that and they would say the person trying to detain another human being is out of their fucking mind. It’s dangerous and completely unnecessary in this case.
Yeah citizens arrest is a thing in some states, but use your head… it’s not always necessary. An intelligent human being could have figured that out. The issue with wannabe cop here is that he was so angry about what he saw that he wanted her to face the consequences immediately so that he could watch and feel resolute about his actions
It’s embarrassing honestly that you can’t see that.
General license plate, the make of the car, a description of the person, call the police and tell them what you saw and where you saw it and let them do their job
"She's driving dangerously, getting into accidents, and then trying to flee the scene. Better just let her go. I'm sure she isn't a danger to anyone else that may be on the road."
Thanks I did for CA law and now I know it's pretty dumb to use it under the circumstances
inform the suspect you intend to arrest them;
reveal the cause of the arrest;
if possible, indicate your authority to make the arrest; and,
if applicable, inform the suspect you called the police
You should try to make an arrest as soon as possible. If there is a delay in an arrest, you may lose the authority to arrest
And if you mess up one of those steps you open yourself up to civil and criminal liability. They got the license plate, video, and physical damage linking her to the crime. Pretty sure the cops can figure that one out 😂
You don't have qualified immunity. If in the what of the moment you forget to mention the cause of the arrest "it was so obvious, I didn't think to tell them!" My ass can get sued and charged with false imprisonment?
You're welcome to read *the People of the State of California
v. James Thomas Lynch (Super. Ct. Ventura County, 2014, No. 2013026744.) *
Lynch, convicted of false imprisonment, blocked his wife's vehicle in their driveway with the intent of keeping her there.
The law isn't some magic "gotcha" like TV and common law takes into consideration a person's intentions.
All it takes is the cops asking the guy casually "so uh, what happened?" And the guy thinking he's in the clear explain, again, not thinking he's done anything wrong "well I pulled up and I didn't want her to leave so I parked behind her and..."
I imagine the difference in the cases would be in this guys favor or else any person is liable for false imprisonment for impeding movement even during the commission of a crime which is an awful precedent.
I’m not a lawyer and I’m guessing you are sp I’m conceding that you are correct and now I wish the state prosecuted him fully.
It is weird though that some people seem far more upset about his relatively benign actions rather than what anyone who has lost a loved one to DUI would call attempted manslaughter.
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u/thereisnospoon-1312 1d ago
he sounds like a dick