Quote:
Originally Posted by Moses
You can detain people for a reasonable amount of time for questioning. Handcuffing them is technically an arrest. You CANNOT arrest citizens for being in the area of a crime. BIG screw up.
Not only were citizens illegally arrested, they were left handcuffed on the sidewalk with an armed, desperate bank robber among them! Good thing he failed his hostage taking class.
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I'm sure we will not be the only ones to debate this. Interestingly enough, I wrote a paper on this years ago. The first U.S. Supreme Court rulings on probable cause and due process were written a century ago and dozens of subsequent cases have built up around the basic ones over the years.
The language is too technical for me and certainly is open to interpretation as it is tested in the courts from time to time. The later cases of course involve warrantless wire tapping.
If no one pursues this handcuffing case, we'll never know. But, I do think there is precedence to justify the chief's actions, but only judicial. So, as a member of the self appointed Pelican jury, I vote for acquittal.
Much of the language that will be used to decide this issue will come from Terry v. Ohio —
Terry v. Ohio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and there might be more from Kirk v. Louisiana which yielded to Payton v. New York.
A summation of that case from Wiki:
"Payton and related case law establish that the principle that a person in a home, particularly his or her own, is entitled to Constitutional protections of due process under the Fourth Amendment
not afforded to persons in automobiles, as per Whren v. United States,
or to persons in public, as per United States v. Watson."
(
Payton v. New York - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
And so on it goes.