Walk It Through: The Lights In The Mirror
A signal to stop, a choice to keep going, an arrest, and the charges that follow.
A marked patrol car with its siren on signals a speeding car to stop on a two-lane road. The driver's license is suspended.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One pursuit that ends in a driveway. A pursuit with a crash, a firearm in the car, force by the officers and a juvenile driver are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Class 1 misdemeanorThe more serious of the two misdemeanor classes, with a maximum of one year in a county jail or a $2,000 fine, or both.
- Class 2 misdemeanorThe lesser misdemeanor class, with a maximum of thirty days in a county jail or a $500 fine, or both.
- Resisting arrestPreventing or trying to prevent an officer from making an arrest by force, threats of force, or means that create a substantial risk of injury. A Class 1 misdemeanor.
- Third degree eludingFleeing or trying to elude an officer after failing to stop at the officer's signal. A Class 1 misdemeanor, and the court may revoke the license for up to one year.
- Committing magistrateThe judicial officer an arrested person is taken before, the nearest one available, without unnecessary delay after the arrest.
- Exigent circumstancesAn emergency that can justify a warrantless arrest. With an arrest warrant or such circumstances, and after reasonable notice and refusal, an officer may break into a dwelling to arrest.
- Petty offenseA lesser kind of offense, such as not having the license on the driver. An officer may detain a person only as long as it takes to issue the complaint and summons, and that detention is not an arrest.