Cold Servings
by David L. Burkhead
 Gallery -- Links -- Email -- FAQ -- Newsgroup -- Archive -- Fanart -- Cast |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The first comic Previous comic Next comic Today's comic
When I first decided to do this, I figured I'd be operating outside the
law. I couldn't rely on the law. It was the law, as much as crime,
that killed Mom. But if I'm going to be outside the law, I figured I'd
better know what the law actually is. Back then, the Internet wasn't the big thing it is today and a 10 year old
orphan didn't have access to it. But I did have access to libraries and
libraries, among other things, had copies of the State legal code. One of the things I looked for was citizen's arrests. I'd heard that
mentioned in movies and TV but even as a kid I knew better than to trust
those. After much searching, I found the following: Sec. 3. (a) A person other
than a law enforcement officer is justified in using
reasonable force against another person to effect an arrest or prevent the
other person's escape if: (1) a felony has been
committed; and (2) there is probable
cause to believe the other person committed that felony. However, such a person is
not justified in using deadly force unless that force is justified
under section 2 of this chapter. And the section two they refer to basically says you can only
use deadly force if you reasonably believe its necessary to prevent serious
bodily injury to yourself or someone else. Funny thing is, I haven't seen anything that requires you to
remain at the scene after making such an "arrest" or to identify
yourself to the police. It may be there, but I haven't found it yet.
I've heard that in many, maybe most, places it's against the law to fail to
report a felony, but except in the case of finding a body or for people with
particular responsibilities, I haven't been able to find such a provision in the
Indiana code. So it looks like if I see a felony in progress, I'm entirely
within the law to use reasonable force to stop the crime and prevent the
criminal's escape. There may be other things that put me outside the law, but not
this one. The first comic Previous comic Next comic Today's comic Twice Destined,
Fantasy adventure in another time and place. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gallery -- Links -- Email
-- FAQ -- Newsgroup
-- Archive -- Fanart -- Cast Other Keen Superhero comics:  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cold Servings is hosted on ComicGenesis, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
