OHTA.ca

I drive a Honda Civic and we all know how those are when it comes to theft. On my driveway my brothers car was stolen twice and once broken in to. Also a few other cars have been stolen on my street. I have an alarm and all that. But say my alarm was going off and I ran outside and fought off the guys who may be trying to steal my car or break in, can I get charged if I were to attack them and hold them until authorities arrived?

I know it sounds bad but I want to know what my options are because I'm not going to run outside and just shout for them to leave my car.. I will be pretty heated at the situation. If I catch them, there will be a fight and unfortunately either myself or them will get hurt. I just want to know if I will get charged in any way if they are the ones that get hurt. Because I'm not going to just stand there while they are making away with my property.

I have done some research on citizens arrest myself for simular reasons. Below is section 494 of the criminal code of canada:

494. (1) Any one may arrest without warrant

(a) a person whom he finds committing an indictable offence; or

(b) a person who, on reasonable grounds, he believes

(i) has committed a criminal offence, and

(ii) is escaping from and freshly pursued by persons who have lawful authority to arrest that person.

Arrest by owner, etc., of property

(2) Any one who is

(a) the owner or a person in lawful possession of property, or

(b) a person authorized by the owner or by a person in lawful possession of property,

may arrest without warrant a person whom he finds committing a criminal offence on or in relation to that property.

Delivery to peace officer

(3) Any one other than a peace officer who arrests a person without warrant shall forthwith deliver the person to a peace officer.

From what I understand you have the right to detain someone who is commiting a crime, as long as you turn them over to a police officer "forthwith". You also have the right to use as much force as nessicary. But in doing so you are opening yourself up to liability. How? Lets just say you sneak up behind a guy who has broken into your car and take a bat to his knee cap and scream "citizens arrest bitch" then hold him down until the cops come... you may be charged with an assult. The whole arrest and the series of events will be on trial. You had better hope your actions were lawful. Use this info at your own discression.

Lol yeah as much as I would like to take a bat to them, and I have lots around the house seeing as I've played baseball all my life, I would never take it that far because I know one way or another it'll backfire on me when it comes to the law..

Thanks a lot for the information!

just use a video camera from your house as you call police....you get the evidence recorded and possible another licence plate from a suspect vehicle.

(a) a person whom he finds committing an indictable offence

How do we know what that is?

Cheers

Viper1

One of the officers may correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to remember from high school law that there is are steps that much be followed in order to officially place somebody under arrest and under citizens arrest. I think it was something along the lines of you must declare who you are and why you are arresting them and then you must physically touch them. I seem to remember my law teacher saying something along the lines of if this didn't happen you can potentially be charged with wrongful detainment or the person can get off on a technicality? My memory is rather fuzzy on the whole subject so if I'm way off please don't judge me

It pretty much as simple as placing your hand on them and declaring a "citizen's arrest". This isn't traffic court, you dont have to be that particular.

Also, any force that is used must be reasonable to meet the situation. If the guy surrenders and stops, you wait for the police to show up - in that case, you can't punch him 600 times in the head and expect not to be charged.

For example, in Windsor a few years ago, a thief broke into someone's house while he was having a party. (This was not a particularly bright thief.) The owner chased him away, but as it became clear that the thief was fleeing, the owner caught up to him, knocked him to the ground and started beating him. He then returned to his house, grabbed a baseball bat, returned to the thief and continued beating him - with the baseball bat. He was convicted of aggravated assault, the reason being, almost immediately after being caught, the thief did not use any force against his would-be detainer. Even after almost getting killed, the same thief did not learn his lesson. One week after the court case, he tried to break into a car in downtown Windsor - with people inside of it. Don't ask me how he did not notice, I don't know. The driver got out, sucker-punched him, and killed him. He was charged with manslaughter. So be careful...

^^ Wow that is serious. Yeah over excessive force is definitely not needed.. I'm assuming in an altercation regarding theft, there will be back and forth fighting unless the thief is scared or apologetic.. But unless they are about to kill you or something, defending yourself and beating someone senseless is definitely grounds for Jail Time..