Court Opinion

ID: 9756876
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:06:04.600094+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:32.421924
License: Public Domain

McDERMOTT, Justice,
concurring.
I join in the opinion of the majority. I wish, however, to express the following.
It is the duty of arresting authorities to arrest, and the duty of the citizenry to yield until their authority is determined. Reasonable force may be used by the authorities before, or during an arrest, but no force is ever justified after an arrestee has submitted; and there can be no defense for trained professional police to inflict their version of a penalty because of prior resistance. Thus, authorities are only empowered to use that reasonable force which is necessary to effectuate their legitimate purpose.
The instant case raises the question of when, if ever, resistance to that force is justified. The majority holds, and I agree, that one may be justified in resisting unnecessary and illegal force that is life threatening or capable of inflicting serious bodily harm. When such unnecessary force is used *54one may use such force as appears necessary to protect life or limb and not be guilty of the offense of resisting arrest.
There is a distinction, however, between resisting arrest initially and thereby raising the level of police force necessary to effect arrest, and protecting oneself from initial or subsequent illegal force; and one may raise the level of necessary police force, by continued resistance, to a level which would be illegal force were it used initially. In other words, one cannot find justification, if by their own acts, they exacerbate what they are required to do peacefully into a dangerous condition for themselves and others; hence, one is never authorized to resist a legal arrest or profit by their resistance.