Here’s the actual wording for citizen’s arrest in Ga.
Also, they will have to answer these questions:
How do you know this person committed a crime? And it has to be probable cause. A police officer can detain with reasonable suspicion, but a civilian cannot. They cannot perform brief investigative detentions. So it’s probable cause or nothing. No “well he might have been.”
Was the crime a felony? It looks like it was misdemeanor criminal trespassing. So, once he tries to flee, if it’s not a felony, you can’t do anything else. This law is to keep what appears to happen, from happening. They approach for a misdemeanor and end up taking action that would be reserved for a more serious crime.
I’d say these guys are probably up shit creek unless they have a better story than what they have told/what’s been released.
The big time key here is *felony offense* when trying to escape. If there isn’t some sort of probable cause of a felony, all bets are off and they are fucked beyond fucked.
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