How to Get Arrested

I just saw a video taken from a police car video camera of the arrest of a 15-year-old Florida girl who violated her curfew. Struggling with the police officer, she ended up getting pepper sprayed and added a new charge of resisting arrest.

Some people seem to think that this was an abuse of force, but the police officer acted appropriately. The girl violated her curfew which was ordered by a court. If the police officer failed to make an arrest for violating the court order, she could have been out all night and committed any number of crimes or become a victim of crime herself. The police officer’s job is to enforce the court order. The girl resisted arrest and the police officer appropriately used a nonlethal and least abusive method of restraining her.

Some people have written on the Internet that she should not have been handcuffed and instead, should have been placed in the police car without handcuffs. From the video, it is clearly apparent that handcuffs were necessary, both to place her in the police car and to protect her and the police officer’s safety. In fact, most police departments require that people who are arrested be placed in handcuffs for everyone’s safety.

If you’re wondering how handcuffs can make the handcuffed person safer, consider the fact that someone who is not handcuffed can be foolish enough to attack a police officer while driving or reach for a police officer’s gun and end up being killed.

Frequently, people are injured or killed, including the person being arrested, innocent bystanders and police officers because someone foolishly tried to run from the police and/or resist arrest.

Sometimes, people facing a minor traffic violation or even innocent people foolishly try to run from the police and are even killed, such as Stanton Crew who was killed by police after his refusing to stop resulted in a 15 mile chase.

I frequently watch COPS on TV and as a criminal lawyer, I’m always amazed how so many people 1) willingly lie in an effort to convince the police officer of their innocence, only to provide probable cause to make an arrest; 2) give permission for the police to search their car so they can find a truck filled with drugs; 3) resist arrest; and/or 4) run from the police.

Not only do most of these people turn a minor misdemeanor into a serious felony, but a lot of lives could be saved if students in school were taught what to do when being stopped by the police. I decided to write a series of articles telling people what to do and what not to do when a police officer tries to stop, detain or arrest you.

The first article explains what to do when being stopped by the police while driving

Philip L. Franckel, Esq.
Criminal Lawyer

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