rabblewabble
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Colorado
A close friend of mine who is 17 was recently charged with minor in possession and resisting arrest. She was at a friend's house party and after having one beer, she walked outside to the backyard for some fresh air with her boyfriend when suddenly they had flashlights in their face from two officers who had come in through the gate. They said "come here" (nothing more, nothing less) and out of fear, my friend dashed back into the house and hid in a closet. Of course, they found her, she blew a 0.018 and the rest is history.
Could she successfully plead not guilty to the resisting arrest charge because of the situation? I mean, I'm not defending her actions, but I believe that most anyone, regardless of age or innocence, would be scared enough to run back into a house before even thinking when taken by surprise by two figures in the middle of the night in a backyard. They were shining the flashlights in their eyes, so they couldn't even see that they were actually uniformed officers. The charge also seems a little funny to me because the "resisting" occurred before they had even announced that they were police. All they said was "come here". She was entirely compliant after they found her in the closet.
It seems this may come down to cop said, she said, so she's wondering if it's even worth fighting. She also has a previous minor in possession charge (that went smoothly : no resistance), but otherwise her record is clean. She does, however, get straight A's and B's and has never had so much as a detention at school. Nobody could even guess that she has a record. Can anyone offer any suggestions or even a full definition of resisting arrest? After the cop said "come here", was she technically under arrest?
(P.S. I was not at the party and did not witness any of this myself, but it's my friends word and I'll believe it)
A close friend of mine who is 17 was recently charged with minor in possession and resisting arrest. She was at a friend's house party and after having one beer, she walked outside to the backyard for some fresh air with her boyfriend when suddenly they had flashlights in their face from two officers who had come in through the gate. They said "come here" (nothing more, nothing less) and out of fear, my friend dashed back into the house and hid in a closet. Of course, they found her, she blew a 0.018 and the rest is history.
Could she successfully plead not guilty to the resisting arrest charge because of the situation? I mean, I'm not defending her actions, but I believe that most anyone, regardless of age or innocence, would be scared enough to run back into a house before even thinking when taken by surprise by two figures in the middle of the night in a backyard. They were shining the flashlights in their eyes, so they couldn't even see that they were actually uniformed officers. The charge also seems a little funny to me because the "resisting" occurred before they had even announced that they were police. All they said was "come here". She was entirely compliant after they found her in the closet.
It seems this may come down to cop said, she said, so she's wondering if it's even worth fighting. She also has a previous minor in possession charge (that went smoothly : no resistance), but otherwise her record is clean. She does, however, get straight A's and B's and has never had so much as a detention at school. Nobody could even guess that she has a record. Can anyone offer any suggestions or even a full definition of resisting arrest? After the cop said "come here", was she technically under arrest?
(P.S. I was not at the party and did not witness any of this myself, but it's my friends word and I'll believe it)