How to Fight a Charge of Resisting Arrest

30 July 2018
 Categories: Law, Blog

Share

Most people want to go through life without too much drama, as everything is so much easier if it is predictable. Yet sometimes circumstances beyond your control can lead to an unpredictable outcome and potentially traumatic events. Imagine what would happen if you were arrested in connection with a particular crime and had absolutely nothing to do with it. Would you protest your innocence loudly and risk being charged with resisting arrest? Unfortunately, this type of thing can happen, so what would you do in this scenario?

Under Pressure

Most of the men and women that make up the police forces around the country are very good at their job and are quite fair. However, they're also under a lot of pressure and from time to time may make mistakes. They may look at your plea of innocence as a way of resisting arrest, and the situation could get quite ugly. They may refuse to listen to you as they take you into custody and write you up for being uncooperative.

Who Is Right?

There are always two sides to every equation, and in this case you're seeing it one way, while they are seeing the other. This could develop into a challenging case and make it difficult for you to state your position.

Definition of Resistance

The law gives the arresting officer some latitude when it comes to the actual arrest itself. It's best if you simply go along with it without protest, either verbally or physically. Certainly, if you physically try to resist them when they try to apply the handcuffs, this would be a bad move. They may note your behaviour as threatening due to your body posture or language.

Remember, you have to comply with the arresting officer even if you are innocent, as you will have time to sort everything out in the hours and days that follow.

Writing up

When the officer writes up his or her report, they can accuse you of resisting arrest. If you are found guilty of this accusation, you will have to pay a stringent penalty, so you need to convince the prosecutor that these charges are erroneous.

In this situation, you will have to identify any mitigating circumstances and prove that your reaction was proportional in this situation. For example, was the officer very aggressive or unjustified in taking this type of action?

Calling Witnesses

If there were any independent witnesses at the scene, they may be able to come to your defence. Hopefully, they'll be able to confirm that you did not resist arrest in the conventional sense.

Looking Deeper

Whenever you try to overturn a charge brought against you by prosecutors, you will need to approach the problem very carefully. Bring in a criminal lawyer to help you, and they will be able to look at the history of the arresting officer to see if this may have happened before.