Greenwich Resisting Arrest Lawyer

Resisting arrest, or interfering with an officer is taken incredibly seriously in Greenwich. One way that an individual can interfere with an officer is by resisting the officer while they attempt to place the suspect under arrest. There is a statute that specifically says that a person is guilty of interfering with an officer when such person obstructs, resists, hinders, or endangers such officer in the performance of the officer’s duties.

If you have been charged with resisting an arrest and are looking for a legal advocate, it is imperative that you consult with a Greenwich resisting arrest lawyer as soon as possible. An experienced lawyer will be able to help minimize or reduce any penalties associated with your charge.

Bringing Forward the Charge

Resisting an arrest is the easiest and most common way that a person will be charged with interfering with an officer, because what typically happens is the person who is being placed under arrest disagrees with the officer’s decision to place them under arrest and believes that what the officer is doing is inappropriate or improper.

Therefore, an individual will attempt to stop the officer from physically putting the person in handcuffs, placing them into the police cruiser, or otherwise allowing them to take the person into custody. A suspect or a person that is about to be arrested can be charged with interfering by doing anything else that makes the performance of the officer’s duties more difficult. An individual should contact a Greenwich resisting arrest lawyer to understand more about the specifics of their charge.

Obstructing an Arrest

When an attorney talks about obstructing or hindering an arrest, they mean if the person is being unruly and screaming, yelling, swearing, or insulting to the officer, it can be considered an obstruction of the performance of the officer’s duties, which would be in this instance to keep peace.

If the person being arrested is not being peaceful, that would be obstructing or hindering the officer’s performance of their duties in terms of keeping the peace with the public.

What Is Evading An Officer Charged Under?

Evading an officer would fall under the charge of interfering with an officer or resisting arrest, because it would either be considered resisting the officer or obstructing the officer from attempting to place the person under arrest.

Further, this could hinder the officer from placing the person under arrest, which would be something that the officer would be doing within their performance of their duties.

Threatening Law Enforcement

If an individual makes any sort of threat toward the police officer during an arrest, they could be charged with interfering with an officer because they put that officer in danger.

This could also be considered obstructing the officer from performing their duties, which can be defended using the experience of a Greenwich resisting arrest lawyer.

Is Providing False Identification Against The Law?

Providing false identification would also fall within the area of hindering or obstructing the officer from performing their duties. In this circumstance, an officer would be performing investigatory duties, and by providing false or misleading information, that person would thereby be hindering or obstructing the officer from being able to conduct their investigation.

A seasoned Greenwich resisting arrest attorney will be able to help defend such a charge and aid in reducing any consequences you may currently be facing.

Moment of Resisting Arrest

The point where an action becomes resisting arrest is a potential issue for a jury to decide. There are both clear indicators and gray areas when it comes to determining a resisting arrest charge. A Greenwich resisting arrest lawyer can help an individual understand the circumstances surrounding their specific charge.

An individual may proclaim out loud that they are not allowing an officer to arrest them, or that they refuse to be arrested and stiffen there arms, preventing an officer from placing that person in handcuffs. This is a more obvious declaration of resisting arrest.

On the other hand, a person may remain quiet but physically, the officer could not move the person’s arms behind the person’s back to place them in handcuffs. This may be because of the person’s weight, or any other circumstance where an officer could not get the individual’s arm to go far enough behind their back to place handcuffs on. That would not be resisting arrest because it was not a voluntary choice by the person to hinder the officer’s ability to place the handcuffs.

Subjective Determination

A jury must determine how voluntary the actions are of the individual being arrested, and what the intentions were of the person when doing it. That will control the decision. There are instances where a person that is being arrested may be trying to do something else, not knowing that the officer is about to place them under arrest, so there may be an instance where the officer does not adequately make it clear that they are about to place the suspect under arrest. A Greenwich resisting arrest attorney can aid an individual in building a defense to disprove the prosection’s case.

In that point, the suspect may be taking actions or movements not knowing that the officer is attempting to perform their duties or attempting to place the suspect under arrest, and it is a question of if the suspect is making voluntary actions for the purpose of resisting arrest, putting up a resistance to the officer, or is taking some other action that is understandable under the circumstances that was not intended or actually did hinder the officer’s ability to place the person under arrest.

Social Consequences

There is often a certain stigma associated with this sort of conviction. Primarily, it is the stigma associated with an individual having any sort of crime on their record. This can always be difficult for people moving forward as they go through their lives.

The stigma is usually more significant with a felony than a misdemeanor, but any crime can reduce the number of opportunities that a person may have in either employment or other types of things that they may want to do with their lives.

This particular charge, resisting arrest or interfering with an officer in Greenwich, can hold additional stigma. It can be viewed by a lot of people as indicating that a person maybe has violent or dangerous tendencies or is unable to comply with rules. Most of the time, the charge alone will not produce that stigma, which is why it is important to try and get that charged either removed, reduced, or changed to something else.

Benefits of an Attorney

By exploring every legal option to get rid of the charge, obtaining and presenting as much evidence as possible to show that the circumstances were misunderstood for any variety of reasons, and by helping the person identify the best opportunities for rehabilitation, the attorney can help show the individual in the most favorable light to the prosecutor and judge so that the charge may be reduced or changed.

The attorney can help remove the stigma that is associated with the charge by showing there had been a misunderstanding, but also showing the client in the best light possible.

It is also important that an experienced attorney help steer the court and prosecutor toward opportunities for rehabilitation, and help the individual identify those opportunities for rehabilitation rather than punishment. This can help the individual avoid as many penalties in terms of incarceration, fines, or other potential consequences.