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19 September 2007

Question about police procedure. →[More:]

My next-door neighbors had one of their usual rows this afternoon, which resulted in Larry being hauled away in a police car.

From what I can piece together, Larry assaulted Nancy and her 18-year-old son, Jeffrey. (Nancy and Jeffrey have been estranged for the past couple years, but I've seen him twice recently, so I guess they're patching things up.) I heard lots of yelling, Nancy was screaming "He's trying to kill me!" I figured it was Jeffrey who was attacking her, but apparently it wasn't.

Anyway, there's a lot more to the story, but here's the weird part. Before the cops took Larry away, they made Jeffrey tell him that he was under arrest for battery. They called him over to the car and said "Tell him he's under arrest for battery." So Jeffrey said, "You're under arrest for battery."

Why did they do this? It makes no sense to me. It almost seems like an in-your-face sort of thing, but I'm assuming it had some sort of official, legal purpose.

post by: mudpuppie at: 17:16 | 13 comments

Citizens arrest, perhaps?

posted by mischief 19 September | 17:49

Clarification: The cops may not have seen enough to warrant an arrest and told the kid if he wanted the old man hauled away, then he would have to make a citizen's arrest.

posted by mischief 19 September | 17:55

Being a CJ major you'd think I'd know this, but I guess I never read about that. However, I have seen this happen on Cops and I think mischief has it.

posted by puke & cry 19 September | 19:04

puke & cry: that's my reaction. I used to do criminal defense and I can't think of a reason beyond cops not speaking the appropriate nonEnglish language that they would do this, except to be jerks, or to avoid having to talk to someone who was likely to set them off.

posted by crush-onastick 19 September | 19:22

My vote would be for some weird variety of in-your-face mindfuck.

posted by jason's_planet 19 September | 19:38

I think part of why it bothered me is that it put the kid in a bad position. Had a little conference with my neighbors this afternoon (initiated by my other next-door neighbor, who is a world-class busy-body), and we all agreed that we're a bit worried about what's going to happen when Larry gets out of jail. It just seemed like the cops were putting Jeffrey in a position to further set Larry off, which puts him at risk.

Anyway, thanks for the input.

posted by mudpuppie 19 September | 19:43

It was either them being dicks or they have some kind of regulation that they get another person to explain the charges in a domestic dispute so that they have a witness.

posted by Divine_Wino 19 September | 20:16

The idea that cops need a citizen's arrest to bring a man in during a domestic, especially in Cali, sounds way false. I vote for asshole cop trying to get some fun from the punters that made him come out on this call.

posted by arse_hat 19 September | 21:49

Yeah. I neglected to mention that when the cops pulled up, they had their guns drawn. Thinking about what arsey said -- if they had enough cause to point a gun at him, it seems like they wouldn't need the citizen's arrest thing.

Maybe it's a mystery that will never be solved....

posted by mudpuppie 19 September | 22:06

The really sad bit is I could see this whole thing getting the kid hurt or killed at some point.

posted by arse_hat 19 September | 23:04

Guns drawn? Yeah, that changes the context completely.

posted by mischief 20 September | 04:20

Maybe since it was a domestic assault situation, the cops wanted to make sure someone was willing to pursue charges against him? (guessing the cops didn't see the actual violence/threat) You know, they take him down, do the paperwork, then the injured party doesn't want to press charges?

posted by mightshould 20 September | 07:27

Maybe they wanted the kid to feel less powerless by letting him know that, because of what Larry did to him and his mom, Larry was off to the clink? And the kid could tell Larry that and feel empowered?

Not likely, but it's the first thing that springs to my mind. Look out for the kid's psychological welfare. Probably not a cop's first thought, though.

posted by shane 20 September | 23:25

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