Originally Posted by
Inkslinger
I’m very conflicted on this. Should the three man have chased him down with firearms and attempted a “citizens arrest”? Considering their though that he was a burglar entering a property that didn’t belong to either of the three, no. But when you see the video of Arbery trying to wrestle the gun away, are you supposed to let him and take the chance that he doesn’t start shooting back? I think about if I was in his position. Three armed men stop me claiming citizens arrest. Ok, I’m sure they would have to get LEO there for the actual arrest. Fine, bring the cops and let them sort this out. What I’m not going to do is try to wrestle a gun away from any of them. As wrong as they were morally in doing what they did, I can’t see it as being wrong legally.
In pretty much every state, you can't do a citizen's arrest unless you witness a crime. You certainly can't stop and detain a guy based on suspicion. Even the police have to be able to articulate a good reason why they had reasonable suspicion to stop somebody, and a "black guy in a white neighborhood," hasn't flown as a reason for about 40 years now.
As to Arbery trying to take the gun, I can see both sides of that. If someone tries to take my gun, I have reason to fear that he's going to use it against me. But on the other hand, if I'm Arbery, and three strange guys armed with shotguns jump out of a pickup truck and tell me that they're conducting a citizens arrest, how do I know that they're not going to shoot me if I try to run away? How do I know that, if I cooperate, I'm not going to end up hanging from a tree? What reason do I have to believe that they'll call the police to handle the matter? I'm thinking I may be a dead man unless I resist, so I go for broke and try one last ditch effort to save my own life.
I don't know if I would convict these guys of murder; it's hard to do when the defendants claim self-defense because you need to prove malice. But manslaughter? False imprisonment? Absolutely.
Last edited by BoringGuy45; 11-24-21 at 10:08.
Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who do not.-Ben Franklin
there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.-Samwise Gamgee
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