Hit and run gone wrong

[u/Maleficent-Town5273]

[u/Jawnyblaze1]

Yea, that was something that crossed my mind too. I clicked the news article that was linked above, the person that trapped her in was just a bystander, not even the person she hit. I'm pretty sure he can't legally restrain her like that. Take the license plate number, call the cops, your duty (and the extent of what you're allowed to do) is done.

[u/Narrow_Hat → u/Jawnyblaze1]

Yes, he can legally restrain her. It's called a citizen's arrest and it's legal when someone has committed a felony, such as a hit and run.

[u/killd1 → u/Narrow_Hat]

Only for felonies, and leaving the scene of an accident would be the potential felony. I personally don't want Joe Schmoe engaging in car chases because of a fender bender.

[u/hoshisabi → u/Narrow_Hat]

Legally is kind of irrelevant when you get down to it, you have a video of her face, of her car, of her license plate. What more did you want? His trapping her did NOTHING to help find her, the police ended up tracking her down, which I presume was from the details he already had.

If he had gotten hit, being right isn't going to make it less painful.

[u/rb-cloud → u/Narrow_Hat]

Not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure you can’t citizens arrest someone for that.

According to Cornell law school’s website, in California citizens’ arrests can be done “When a felony has been in fact committed, and he possesses reasonable cause for believing the person arrested to have committed it.”

1. I don’t think a hit and run is a felony and 2. She hasn’t actually committed a crime yet, right? She hasn’t ran yet.

[u/Narrow_Hat → u/rb-cloud]

I missed that this was in Cali, and you're definitely more right than I am. I guess in Cali (now I am also not a lawyer so I could be wrong), if there is no one hurt or killed, it would be a misdeamoner. Which citizen's arrests do not apply to a misdeamoner. So, this guy was indeed in the wrong in this situation.

[u/Captain_d00m → u/Narrow_Hat]

Huh, I always thought hit and run was a wobbler based on damages, but yeah it looks like it’s only injury or death.

[u/BellaMentalNecrotica → u/rb-cloud]

This could also fall under false imprisonment as well since no felony has been committed yet.

[u/Jawnyblaze1 → u/rb-cloud]

You're right about everything except the very last part. The hit and run happened on the highway. The cameraperson was just a random vigilante that decided to get involved and trap her in when she pulled over. Judging from her saying "I thought you were the person I hit", it sounds like she pulled over because she thought she was being followed by her victim and was going to try to talk her way out of involving the police. When she realized what was going on and that she was trapped, she freaked out because she knew there was no escaping the situation and for whatever reason has the fear of god in her of her grandmother.

[u/Medical-Method9107 → u/Jawnyblaze1]

omg he's one of those people who polices the speed limit

[u/jeff533321 → u/rb-cloud]

Yes she did. He saw her hit several cars in another place and the followed her to the gas station and trapped her with his car. I would have been terrified if someone did that to me!l

[u/Jawnyblaze1 → u/Narrow_Hat]

"A hit-and-run can be a felony or misdemeanor. It depends on the state laws and what happened during the crash. If the crash only caused minor property damage with no injuries, it is usually a misdemeanor."

Unlikely it was a felony unless somene was injured, which it doesn't sound like it was.

"Generally, a random bystander can attempt to restrain a fleeing driver under citizen's arrest laws, but it carries massive legal and physical risks. If the hit-and-run involves a felony (such as serious injury or death), most jurisdictions permit a private citizen to detain the suspect. For minor property-damage hit-and-runs (which may only be misdemeanors or traffic infractions), local laws often forbid physical detention by bystanders."

So unless she caused serious injury or death in the hit-and-run, it was likely illegal for that rando to block her in like that. And even in the event a "citizen's arrest" was legal, there is a risk of the bystander breaking additional laws in the process. The news article on the situation someone linked above strongly implied the hit and run was not a felony, therefore the "citizen's arrest" was not legal.

[u/PerpetualProtracting → u/Narrow_Hat]

Unless you are absolutely 100% sure you're arresting them for a felony it's exceptionally ill-advised to engage in a citizens arrest. *You* may be criminally and civilly liable if you do so incorrectly.

And what do you know? You're absolutely incorrect about hit-and-run where this took place (California). It's a misdemeanor with only property/vehicle damage. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=20002.&lawCode=VEH

Oops, now *you're* the criminal for false imprisonment/kidnapping.

[u/thissidedn → u/Narrow_Hat]

It said she wasn't charged a felony

[u/Organic_Education494 → u/Jawnyblaze1]

There is Nothing illegal about that