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Court rules Virginians Can’t be Charged With Fleeing Police if Officers Are Too Far Away (royalexaminer.com)

submitted 1 year ago by DevCat to c/law

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2320015

The Virginia Court of Appeals overruled a man’s misdemeanor conviction for fleeing from police after ruling the Lynchburg police officer who attempted to make the arrest didn’t get close enough to the suspect to have a realistic chance of grabbing him.

In an opinion revealing what the court described as a legal quirk unique to Virginia, the court found that an officer telling someone to stop from 20 yards away doesn’t satisfy a rule requiring officers to have the “immediate physical ability to place the person under arrest.”

The opinion applies mainly to foot chases, not a separate eluding law that criminalizes fleeing police in a motor vehicle.

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[–] JustZ 2 points 1 year ago

Interesting. I like this rule.

Running from police in a high crime area was good basis for probable cause. I know in some states, courts have recently taken the position that running from police is a rational response with the all the shit they pull, and not indicative of any crime afoot.