TOLEDO, Ohio — On Dec. 18, 30-year-old Dylan Cannan attempted a citizen's arrest after he said a driver committed a hit and run. A twist in the plot saw Cannan himself facing misdemeanor charges.
You can be arrested for attempting a citizen's arrest, but there are other potential legal issues, too.
Can a person be sued after attempting to make a citizen's arrest?
“In order to make a citizen's arrest, there has to be a felony in play that you witnessed. You have to tell the person that you are arresting them, what you're arresting them for, and afterward you have to take them to court or to law enforcement right away,” said Perrysburg defense attorney Nichole Papageorgiou.
According to the Ohio Revised Code, a felony has to be committed before a person can attempt a citizen arrest's on another person. But it's trickier than that.
“Would a regular citizen know the difference between serious physical harm and physical harm? Like in an assault where an assault would be escalated to a felony,” said Rossford Police Chief Todd Kitzler.
Kitzler said law enforcement has access to a person's previous criminal charges and would know that committing the same crime more than once could escalate that offense to a felony charge. But the average person isn't working with the same information.
If you still choose to attempt a citizens arrest, Papageorgiou said you could be opening yourself up to a lawsuit.
“If you're making an unlawful citizen's arrest, then what you're doing is restraining someone's civil liberty,” she said. “The manner in which you would violate that might open you up depending on the facts and circumstances to liability.”
Kitzler said a much better course of action is to be a good witness and let the trained law enforcement professionals make that arrest instead of attempting it yourself.