One of the most important factors in defending a charge for resisting arrest is analyzing the police officer’s conduct in the first place. Pursuant to New York caselaw, the underlying arrest must be an “authorized arrest.” In other words, the arrest must be based on probable cause either by observations by the officer, for example, or in connection to a warrant. People v. Jensen, 86 N.Y.2d 248 (1995). For example, if an Officer cannot claim that somebody is resisting arrest if they had no valid arrest to make initially.

WE CAN HELP

Attorney Chris Brown has both prosecuted and defended hundreds of cases for Resisting Arrest. In 2018 alone, Attorney Brown received multiple dismissals for clients simply because the arresting Officer had no probable cause to make an arrest for the initial conduct.

One of our clients, a Binghamton Univeristy Student, was involved in an argument with an Uber Driver. A Binghamton Police Officer came over to assist and told the student to move to the sidewalk. The student did move to the sidewalk but also continued the argument with the police officer. Before long the student was placed in handcuffs for resisting arrest. We received video surveillance in the case and easily determined that the student neither resisted nor violated the law in the first instance. This case was dismissed before a fact finding hearing in Binghamton City Court.

REMEMBER: Regardless of the set of circumstances, if you are confronted by the police it is usually, if not always, in your best interest to be orderly and “compliant.” This does not mean you should merely let the police take advantage of a particular situation. At the same time, you do not want to escalate a potentially dangerous situation. In the event you are wrongly arrested or charged with certain crimes, your criminal defense attorney cannot only make the applicable motions to challenge the legality and sufficiency of the arrest and charged offenses, but he or she can explain to you the available civil remedies as well.