🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <CGn82K.1rD@cbnews.cb.att.com> tel@cbnews.cb.att.com (thomas.e.lester) writes:
>>Spangler was resisting the Meijer rent-a-cops when they broke his neck.  I
>
>	Okay, so what constitutes resisting ?  If they are not
>    "real" police, they are making a civilian arrest.
>    As such, they have no right to use force for restraint.
>
>    If I were approached by such "store cops"  I would refuse to budge.
>    I would demand that they call real police and file a formal arrest 
>    complaint before I would allow a search of me or my parcels.
>
>    If I were beaten for my refusal, would I be accused of resisting ??


Well, citizens can make an arrest for a misdemeanor committed in
their presence.

So a store cop who sees you commit a misdemeanor (or felony) can
arrest you, and can use sufficient force to overcome your resistance
to that arrest.

If you start to leave the store cop can restrain you.

If you later are found guilty of the charge for which you were
arrested, you will probably lose a false arrest suit.

If you are not found guilty, then it's up to a court to determine
if it's a false arrest, and you have a good chance of winning.

If you ask the store cop to call a real cop, and the store cop sign
a written complaint stating he saw you commit a specified
misdemeanor in his presence, the real cop can take you into custody.
In general, for a felony the real cop will not arrest you for a
misdemeanor not committed in his presence, but if a store cop
arrests you, the real cop can take you into custody.  There's really
a difference.  If you file a false arrest charge, it's not the real
cop who did the arresting.

So you may not want to call a real cop since you may end up in the
pokey, and can think about a lawsuit but is that really the best
thing at the moment?


In the Spangler case, he was awarded a few million dollars because
of at least three separate reasons:

 1. He was paralyzed.   That alone might have been  enough.

 2. He never stole anything.  He brought in old batteries to see
    if Miejers carried the same batteries.  They didn't.  So he
    put the old batteries back in his pocket and was stopped leaving
    the store and told he was shoplifting the batteries (that
    Meijers didn't even carry.)

 3. At the time, the Meijer store cops were taught to use, and did
    use "Pain Compliance" to stop people from leaving.

    What's pain compliance?  If someone starts to leave, hurt him;
    inflict pain, to prevent him from leaving.

    In Spangler's case, it left him paralyzed.  I recall he was a
    short, non-athletic 50-ish man, and the two store cops were
    young, strong, tall, muscular types.  Surprise!

This was all documented in the Columbus Dispatch at that time,
which is why it might be a good idea to contact them with this
latest information.
-- 
Art Kamlet  a_s_kamlet@att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus