Resisting Arrest: Not A Crime E-mail
The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office in the Portland, Oregon area recently sent out a memo regarding a resisting case (State v. Oliphant) and its decision's effect on Oregon law enforcement. In essence, the ruling says: an arrestee may defend himself against a police officer's use or imminent use of force if the arrestee believes, as much as a reasonable person in his position would believe, that the officer's use or imminent use of force exceeds the force reasonably necessary to make the arrest.

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Oregon effectively is now the only state that gives a suspect charged with Resisting Arrest (ORS 162.315) an affirmative defense that they were defending themselves against what they reasonably believed was an actual or imminent unlawful use of force by a police officer.

Accompanying charges including Assault on a Public Safety Officer will likely be dismissed if the argument stands.

The full case can be viewed at: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/S056404.htm

Dennis Slocumb is the vice president of legislative affairs for the International Union of Police Associations.


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