Public Address | Cafe | Legal Beagle: On citizen’s arrests; or yet another law change I missed when Parliament created the Criminal Procedure Act

Allan MacLachlan

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 12:57:39 +1300

Now, how to manage the road rage of the fuckwit behind me who is clearly prescient and knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that my precautionary approach to cornering is a complete and utter overreaction to the remote possibility that there could be said obstacle just around the bend.…

Rosemary McDonald

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 17:46:06 +1300

Well, whew!

Just as well I do travel at such a speed and following distance that I have hitherto been able to stop when some fwit decides the best place to stop is right in the middle of the road.

And yes, thank god, I do take blind corners at…

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 14:02:01 +1300

I nearly ran up the arse of that car that's now part of that tangle of broken bodies and scrap metal. Twice actually. When the driver simply stopped in the middle of the road. Both times on blind corners.

Illustrating another common (and dangerous misconception) that many NZers have:

FYI,…

FletcherB

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 22:49:54 +1300

Surely careless or reckless use of a deadly weapon that is likely to end in tragedy if not death, doesn't have to come under the Land Transport Act just because the weapon in question is shaped like a car?

I would hope a citizens arrest could be (legally) made on…

mpledger

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 22:46:51 +1300

Suppose you are driving a car with a child on board and a driver nearly wipes you out and that driver gives you the finger i.e. there was some degree of carelessness or perhaps it was even intentional. Can you make a citizens arrest then?

Ken Sparks

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 20:05:47 +1300

As we’ve driven around the Nelson/Golden Bay area in the last week I’ve been joking about making my first citizen’s arrest if we encountered a bad driver. I won’t be joking about that anymore let alone doing it. Seems the best approach would be to pull over and call the…

Graeme Edgeler

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 13:24:56 +1300

Is there perhaps some Law that states failure to prevent a crime from happening is in itself a crime????

Only very specific ones: failure to alert the authorities to treason; failure to protect a child or vulnerable adult (eg knowing of child abuse as a parent and doing nothing, or…

Rosemary McDonald

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 11:04:04 +1300

Okay, so no citizen's arrest/car key confiscations however great the provocation...oops...still no defense...

Is there perhaps some Law that states failure to prevent a crime from happening is in itself a crime????

"Oh, yes Officer, I nearly ran up the arse of that car that's now part of that tangle…

Graeme Edgeler

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 09:36:54 +1300

Could that ever amount to kidnapping under the Crimes Act or would it be more like a traffic offence?

I obviously have no idea what happened, but the basic requirements for kidnapping are detaining someone with the intent of them being confined.

izogi

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 07:23:50 +1300

So a news story about a citizen's arrest for dangerous driving (an offence with a maximum penalty of three month's imprisonment) is really a story about the possible kidnapping of a tourist.

In this specific case it doesn't sound as if they actively tried to arrest the driver (though I'm…

Moz

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 23:20:33 +1300

is a "citizen's arrest" of a tourist driver a three-strikes offence?

If you're unlucky it could presumably be all of them. To wit, assault, kidnapping, threats, probably a bit of wilful damage and something under the causing injury sections. IANAL, of course.

There's a whole lot of law that I…

Graeme Edgeler

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 16:23:18 +1300

Paragraph 3 seems to be truncated?

Do you mean paragraph 4, if so, I fixed it before you read it, but presumably not before you opened the tab :-)

EliotBlennerhassett

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 16:19:33 +1300

Paragraph 3 seems to be truncated?

Thomas Lumley

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 16:02:01 +1300

A related question I've been wondering about: is a "citizen's arrest" of a tourist driver a three-strikes offence?

Public Address

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 16:02:01 +1300

Discussion from blog post.