Detaining an intruder

[BoonDocks36]

Burt, Burt, Burt... Once again, you are getting caught up... In the 100% catagory...

Never Ever, is a fairy tale. Not all LEO are BG's ...

In my Opinion, having Known, Three LEO's, personal friends level, I still believe that the Majority of LEO's today, are good honest folks, their thinking is, "To Serve & Protect" still applicable....

I like about 10% of what you post, and consider another 80% to be conspiracy hogwash, And that last 10% like the last above posts, to be detrimental to the reading public.

Of course, YMMV.

philip, in the BoonDocks, I will call LEO, when I feel The Need, Not "Never Ever" as Burt suggests.

 

[osterr1999]

"Oh good! you've placed a bad guy under citizens arrest using justifiable force per ORS 161.255. [1973 c.836 §74] and delivered him police station, Well Done Citizen".

Said no Policeman ever.

Sounds like something out of the George Zimmerman playbook. Will you write a book and do network interviews after you get beaten, shot, imprisoned, charged with federal crimes and sued?

I'm not advocating doing it. I'm just pointing out that it is within the law for you to do it if you choose to do so. The OP asked if he would be within his rights to detain someone and based on the law the answer is yes.

 

[Fast Eddie]

I'm not advocating doing it. I'm just pointing out that it is within the law for you to do it if you choose to do so. The OP asked if he would be within his rights to detain someone and based on the law the answer is yes.

 

[Redcap]

S.
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[Riot]

I'm not advocating doing it. I'm just pointing out that it is within the law for you to do it if you choose to do so. The OP asked if he would be within his rights to detain someone and based on the law the answer is yes.

It's legal to poke a stick at a hornet's nest but that doesn't mean you should do it...

 

[Misterbill]

If you can shoot them, you can point a gun at them.

If they commit a felony in your presence, you can detain them.


Lastly,

I wouldn't suggest "detaining" an intruder unless they saw the gun and got face first on the ground. You have no idea what their intent is (kidnap, rape, burglary, vandalism, etc.) or even how many intruders there are or what he/she is on. For them to not know or care if you're home in the first place should be red flag #1. Home invasions is one of those things where no DA wants to touch since you have an expectation of privacy and safety in your home. My suggestion is that if you know that the person in your home shouldn't be there (i.e. it's not a relative or drunk friend that grabbed your hide-a-key and forgot to call first) then I would put bullets in them until they were face down on the ground. My family's safety comes before being the next kung-fu legend with some tweeker at 4am in my living room.

There is no "shotgun racking", no warnings of "freeze, dirt bag!" If a bad guy is in my home while I am home they better be able to move faster than a .40 S&W.

Not really disagreeing. I'm imagining a scenario where I run into an intruder who sees my gun and immediately goes to his knees with his hands raised and begs me not to shoot him. This really does happen. I'm obviously not going to execute him.

In that case I'm gonna detain him (because I called the cops or had my wife do it before I left a safe area). I also must have had a pretty damned good reason to LEAVE my safe area (my bedroom). for me, that's my Dogs' safety. They are our kids. If they were locked in the Bedroom with us, I'm staying put.

I can see a number of scenarios where detaining someone could happen. So I don't think the OP was at all out of the realm of possibility.
It's sure as HELL not something I'd set out to do, but once you introduce armed citizen and intruder, God only knows how it's going to play out. For me, the key things are a: not getting hurt and b: not getting in legal trouble through overzealous application of what you THINK your rights are. Because they are few and very specific and fraught with potential downsides.

 

[Riot]

Not really disagreeing. I'm imagining a scenario where I run into an intruder who sees my gun and immediately goes to his knees with his hands raised and begs me not to shoot him. This really does happen. I'm obviously not going to execute him.

In that case I'm gonna detain him (because I called the cops or had my wife do it before I left a safe area). I also must have had a pretty damned good reason to LEAVE my safe area (my bedroom). for me, that's my Dogs' safety. They are our kids. If they were locked in the Bedroom with us, I'm staying put.

I can see a number of scenarios where detaining someone could happen. So I don't think the OP was at all out of the realm of possibility.
It's sure as HELL not something I'd set out to do, but once you introduce armed citizen and intruder, God only knows how it's going to play out. For me, the key things are a: not getting hurt and b: not getting in legal trouble through overzealous application of what you THINK your rights are. Because they are few and very specific and fraught with potential downsides.

lol, read the first line in the paragraph...

"I wouldn't suggest "detaining" an intruder unless they saw the gun and got face first on the ground."

Also, I agree with the never leaving the area part...which is why I'm starting to kinda like the whole "bump in the night bag" idea, especially if your phone was in it.

 

[Misterbill]

lol, read the first line in the paragraph...

Also, I agree with the never leaving the area part...which is why I'm starting to kinda like the whole "bump in the night bag" idea, especially if your phone was in it.

My bad, I missed that part. As for the bump in the night bag, we actually advise a fanny pack at the bedside for exactly that. Contains a phone, spare magazine, flashlight and whatever else you might want (trauma patch? electronic earmuffs? whatever). Easy way to have what you need handy and portable while leaving your hands free and not requiring you to get dressed.

 

[CLT65]

Involve the police in your life deliberately and you get what you deserve. Never call them. Never ask anything from them.

Wow, that's pretty cynical. I respectfully disagree, though I have friends who unfortunately feel the same way. I also have life-long friends in law enforcement who I would trust with my life. It's truly unfortunate that law enforcement has lost so much of the trust and respect of the public in general.

In response to your cynicism, I will offer some cynicism of my own. No matter what you think of the police, it's important to call them and report any kind of armed confrontation, incident, or threat you may be involved in. If some lowlife gets mad because you chased them off, and they call the police to report you (embellishing your gun-wielding craziness and attempted murder), it could go badly for you.

As to the original discussion, an acquaintance told a story of losing tools out of his shop. He finally caught the guy red-handed in his shop with a box of tools gathered up. He had the drop on him with a shotgun, mad as heck, and told the thief you're done for now, I caught you!

The guy calmly put the box down, said sorry man, I thought this was my buddy's place. He put up his hands, turned his back and walked out, never to be seen again. What could he do, shoot him in the back? The cop that eventually showed up just laughed.

He found out later that it was one of his punk kid's pals, but he never came back so at least he put the scare into him.