Legality of helping a police officer?

[HoLeChit]

So, I have been watching a few law enforcement videos on the youtubes.... and I have questions. Luckily, we have some knowledgeable people as well as some LEO's.



In this video, at 4:40 or so, there's a real dumb fella shooting at a cop in a traffic stop. Mid shootout, a car comes driving down the road and stops. throws the car in reverse, and leaves. In this situation, my first reaction was "hit that fool!". If a person in a car came in and instead of driving on, swerved and pinned the shooter against the car, what would the legal repercussions be?



In this video the cop is wrasslin that land hippo as she is trying to grab the firearm in her pants. The cop asks the bystander to help him cuff her and such. Let say he does help the officer make the arrest, is he protected from lawsuit, kinda like a good Samaritan law protecting someone helping out a victim of a crash on the side of the road? If said bystander was armed, would he be within his rights to protect himself from angry boyfriend returning with a firearm?

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this.

A good rule of thumb is you can do anything for a third person who is the subject of unlawful force that you could do for yourself if you were the victim of unlawful force being used against you.

I don't believe you'll have any blanket immunity from criminal or civil actions just because you helped a police officer. The bottom line is, the same rules apply. You can do what is reasonable to protect yourself (or a third person) from unlawful physical force that's used against you.

You'll have to articulate very clearly (actually, your attorney will do it for you) why you felt it was reasonable to pursue the course of action you took. Pretty much like any other defensive use of force.

 

[GC7]

Only if you personally know the cop

 

[retrieverman]

For me, it’s like a self checkout in a store. I don’t get paid to be a checker, and I ain’t getting paid to be a cop.

 

[Glocktogo]

In today's legal system? I don't think there's any bright line where your actions in support of law enforcement are covered by some type of legal immunity. Even if the officer specifically requests your assistance, if the MMQB'ing determines his course of action was improper or unconstitutional, you could be held civilly liable for your part in it.

I'm not advocating against providing potentially life-saving assistance to a LEO in a crisis. Your personal morals and ethics should dictate your decisions.

 

[Rez Exelon]

If I had qualified immunity sure, I'd think about helping. Too many stories of people getting killed being helpers combined with the fact that I'd have no legal immunity? Yeah, nah.

 

[Glock 'em down]

In today's legal system? I don't think there's any bright line where your actions in support of law enforcement are covered by some type of legal immunity. Even if the officer specifically requests your assistance, if the MMQB'ing determines his course of action was improper or unconstitutional, you could be held civilly liable for your part in it.

I'm not advocating against providing potentially life-saving assistance to a LEO in a crisis. Your personal morals and ethics should dictate your decisions.

On the flip side of this, you could be arrested by said LEO for failure to obey a lawful command, hence helping him, if he requests it of you.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

On the flip side of this, you could be arrested by said LEO for failure to obey a lawful command, hence helping him, if he requests it of you.

That's crazy. I've never heard of that being a crime before. Interesting to know.

 

[Firpo]

Somehow, and I acknowledge my ignorance of the law, but I don’t see how a police officer could demand/order “Joe Citizen” to insert themselves in the middle of a gunfight.

 

[bigred1]

I don't care if you have a badge or bib overalls on I cannot simply look the other way in times of peril.