Opinion ID: 2402568
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Heading: Concerning the Arrests

Text: The invariable rule is that a police officer without a warrant lacks authority to make an arrest in a felony case unless he has reasonable grounds or probable cause to believe at the time of the arrest that a felony has been committed and that the person arrested had committed the offense. Murray v. State, 236 Md. 375, 203 A.2d 908 (1964); Young v. State, 234 Md. 125, 198 A.2d 91 (1964); Edwardsen v. State, 231 Md. 332, 190 A.2d 84 (1963); Mulcahy v. State, 221 Md. 413, 158 A.2d 80 (1960). As was pointed out in Young, at p. 129 (as well as in Edwardsen and Mulchay ), reasonable grounds or probable cause exists when the facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the officer, or of which he had reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient to warrant a reasonably cautious man believing that a felony had been committed. Necessarily therefore, the question as to whether or not a person was lawfully arrested depends on the facts and circumstances in each case. An arrest has been defined as the detention of a known or suspected offender for the purpose of prosecuting him for a crime. Cornish v. State, 215 Md. 64, 67, 137 A.2d 170, 172 (1957). As that case points out there is a detention only when there is a touching by the arrestor or when the arrestee is told that he is under arrest and submits. Where there is no touching, the intention of the arrestor and the understanding of the arrestee are determinative, for in order for there to be an arrest in such case, there must always be an intent on the part of one to arrest the other and an intent on the part of such other to submit. When one is approached by a police officer and merely questioned as to his identity and actions, this is only an accosting and not an arrest. See also Kauffman, The Law of Arrest in Maryland, 5 Md. L. Rev. 125, 131; 5 Am.Jur.2d, Arrest, § 1; 6 C.J.S., Arrest, § 1.