|
|
Court OpinionsState LawsUS CodeUS Constitution |
Use of force in law enforcement - 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 508Legal Research Home > Pennsylvania Statutes Sponsored Links
§ 508. Use of force in law enforcement.
(a) Peace officer's use of force in making arrest.--
(1) A peace officer, or any person whom he has summoned
or directed to assist him, need not retreat or desist from
efforts to make a lawful arrest because of resistance or
threatened resistance to the arrest. He is justified in the
use of any force which he believes to be necessary to effect
the arrest and of any force which he believes to be necessary
to defend himself or another from bodily harm while making
the arrest. However, he is justified in using deadly force
only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent
death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other
person, or when he believes both that:
(i) such force is necessary to prevent the arrest
from being defeated by resistance or escape; and
(ii) the person to be arrested has committed or
attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape
and possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates
that he will endanger human life or inflict serious
bodily injury unless arrested without delay.
(2) A peace officer making an arrest pursuant to an
invalid warrant is justified in the use of any force which he
would be justified in using if the warrant were valid, unless
he knows that the warrant is invalid.
(b) Private person's use of force in making arrest.--
(1) A private person who makes, or assists another
private person in making a lawful arrest is justified in the
use of any force which he would be justified in using if he
were summoned or directed by a peace officer to make such
arrest, except that he is justified in the use of deadly
force only when he believes that such force is necessary to
prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or another.
(2) A private person who is summoned or directed by a
peace officer to assist in making an arrest which is
unlawful, is justified in the use of any force which he would
be justified in using if the arrest were lawful, unless he
knows that the arrest is unlawful.
(3) A private person who assists another private person
in effecting an unlawful arrest, or who, not being summoned,
assists a peace officer in effecting an unlawful arrest, is
justified in using any force which he would be justified in
using if the arrest were lawful, if:
(i) he believes the arrest is lawful; and
(ii) the arrest would be lawful if the facts were as
he believes them to be.
(c) Use of force regarding escape.--
(1) A peace officer, corrections officer or other person
who has an arrested or convicted person in his custody is
justified in the use of such force to prevent the escape of
the person from custody as the officer or other person would
be justified in using under subsection (a) if the officer or
other person were arresting the person.
(2) A peace officer or corrections officer is justified
in the use of such force, including deadly force, which the
officer believes to be necessary to prevent the escape from a
correctional institution of a person whom the officer
believes to be lawfully detained in such institution under
sentence for an offense or awaiting trial or commitment for
an offense.
(3) A corrections officer is justified in the use of
such force, which the officer believes to be necessary to
defend himself or another from bodily harm during the pursuit
of the escaped person. However, the officer is justified in
using deadly force only when the officer believes that such
force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury
to himself or another or when the officer believes that:
(i) such force is necessary to prevent the
apprehension from being defeated by resistance; and
(ii) the escaped person has been convicted of
committing or attempting to commit a forcible felony,
possesses a deadly weapon or otherwise indicates that he
will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury
unless apprehended without delay.
(d) Use of force to prevent suicide or the commission of
crime.--
(1) The use of force upon or toward the person of
another is justifiable when the actor believes that such
force is immediately necessary to prevent such other person
from committing suicide, inflicting serious bodily injury
upon himself, committing or consummating the commission of a
crime involving or threatening bodily injury, damage to or
loss of property or a breach of the peace, except that:
(i) Any limitations imposed by the other provisions
of this chapter on the justifiable use of force in self-
protection, for the protection of others, the protection
of property, the effectuation of an arrest or the
prevention of an escape from custody shall apply
notwithstanding the criminality of the conduct against
which such force is used.
(ii) The use of deadly force is not in any event
justifiable under this subsection unless:
(A) the actor believes that there is a
substantial risk that the person whom he seeks to
prevent from committing a crime will cause death or
serious bodily injury to another unless the
commission or the consummation of the crime is
prevented and that the use of such force presents no
substantial risk of injury to innocent persons; or
(B) the actor believes that the use of such
force is necessary to suppress a riot or mutiny after
the rioters or mutineers have been ordered to
disperse and warned, in any particular manner that
the law may require, that such force will be used if
they do not obey.
(2) The justification afforded by this subsection
extends to the use of confinement as preventive force only if
the actor takes all reasonable measures to terminate the
confinement as soon as he knows that he safely can, unless
the person confined has been arrested on a charge of crime.
(July 17, 2007, P.L.139, No.41, eff. 60 days)
2007 Amendment. Act 41 amended subsec. (c).
Section: Previous 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 901 902 903 904 905 Next
Last modified: November 27, 2007 |