{ "id": 2471232, "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles R. Carroll, Defendant-Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "People v. Carroll", "decision_date": "1971-05-06", "docket_number": "No. 55039", "first_page": "78", "last_page": "82", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "133 Ill. App. 2d 78" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "256 N.E.2d 76", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "120 Ill. App.2d 52", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 1583467 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-2d/120/0052-01" ] }, { "cite": "258 N.E.2d 326", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "year": 1970, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "45 Ill.2d 221", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2895022 ], "year": 1970, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/45/0221-01" ] }, { "cite": "242 N.E.2d 288", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "101 Ill.App.2d 44", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2900269 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-2d/101/0044-01" ] }, { "cite": "234 N.E.2d 384", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "year": 1968, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "91 Ill.App.2d 212", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2819686 ], "year": 1968, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-2d/91/0212-01" ] }, { "cite": "240 N.E.2d 595", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "40 Ill.2d 392", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2855718 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/40/0392-01" ] }, { "cite": "280 F.Supp. 938", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "F. Supp.", "case_ids": [ 2782314 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/f-supp/280/0938-01" ] }, { "cite": "241 N.E.2d 587", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "year": 1968, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "100 Ill.App.2d 20", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2821744 ], "year": 1968, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-2d/100/0020-01" ] }, { "cite": "229 N.E.2d 368", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "85 Ill.App. 2d 210", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2553157 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-2d/85/0210-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 536, "char_count": 8696, "ocr_confidence": 0.727, "pagerank": { "raw": 4.1244518162146686e-07, "percentile": 0.9105499973164458 }, "sha256": "93ed07796133c93df87586879a2aff30027e1c22616809af2326838adad796f2", "simhash": "1:a252db8f67c0f39d", "word_count": 1470 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:40:15.946523+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "The People of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles R. Carroll, Defendant-Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Mr. JUSTICE DEMPSEY\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nOn the evening of March 8, 1969, Officer Patrick Poston of the Bridge-view Police Department apprehended a motorist for a traffic violation. Neighborhood residents were attracted to the scene and soon a crowd of approximately forty persons gathered. The defendant, Charles Carroll, age 15, and his mother were in the crowd. Carroll knew the occupants of the car and Poston observed him escorting one of them, a fourteen-year-old girl, away from the scene. Poston told them both to remain, as he wished to question the girl.\nPoston called for assistance and Sergeant Hanson Perkins was one of the policemen who responded. He conferred with Poston and then ordered the crowd to disperse. No one moved. After the command was repeated twice, Carroll moved back a few steps. Perkins testified that Carroll appeared to snicker. Perkins then asked him \u201cto take off.\u201d Carroll, confronted with conflicting orders, did not move. A brief verbal exchange took place between them with Carroll telling Perkins, \u201cI don\u2019t have to go anywhere.\u201d Perkins warned him that he would be placed under arrest if he did not leave. Carroll then jumped across a ditch which placed him at a greater distance from the crowd. Perldns also jumped the ditch, and when the boy mumbled something under his breath, Perkins told him he was under arrest and to get in the police car. Carroll then ran into his home which was nearby. Perkins pursued him, more officers followed, and he was taken into custody in his house.\nCarroll was charged and convicted of violating par. 31\u20141, ch. 38, Ill. Rev. Stat., 1967, which makes it an offense to resist or obstruct \u201cthe performance by one known to tire person to be a peace officer of any authorized act within his official capacity * * The defendant contends that he did not resist any \u201cauthorized act\u201d of the police officer.\nA police officer may arrest a person when he has reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed a criminal offense. (Ill. Rev. Stat, 1967, ch. 38, par. 107\u20142.) The test whether the officer had reasonable grounds for his belief is whether a reasonable and prudent man having the knowledge which the officer had would believe the person arrested guilty of the offense. (People v. Asey (1967), 85 Ill.App. 2d 210, 229 N.E.2d 368.) We must conclude from Perkins\u2019 own testimony that there was no probable cause for arresting Carroll. Perkins testified that Carroll had violated ho I\u00e1w; fed\u00e9\u00edal, state or mtmicipal. When asked the reason for his arrest, Perkins replied:\n\u201cThe boy was told if he wouldn\u2019t move back that he would be placed under arrest, at which time he jumped across the ditch, muffled something under his breath again, and I said, that\u2019s it, you are under arrest ** **.\u201d\nCarroll was not placed under arrest because he had committed a criminal offense. He was not arrested because he disobeyed the order to move back; in fact, by jumping across the ditch he was complying with this order. He was arrested, according to the arresting officer himself, because he \u201cmuffled something under his breath.\u201d Muttering to oneself is not a crime. While Perkins may have been displeased at Carroll's display of hostility, he had no reasonable ground for arresting him.\nNonetheless, the lack of probable cause for the arrest does not exonerate Carroll from resisting it. Section 31\u20141 prohibits a person from knowingly resisting a police officer from performing an authorized act. \u201cAuthorized\u201d means \u201cendowed with authority.\u201d (People v. Young (1968), 100 Ill.App.2d 20, 241 N.E.2d 587.) \u201cResisting\u201d was defined in Landry v. Daley (N.D.Ill. 1968), 280 F.Supp. 938, as \u201cwithstanding the force or effect of or the exertion of oneself to counteract or defeat.\u201d In speaking of \u201cresisting\u201d and \u201cobstructing\u201d the court stated:\n\u201cThese terms are alike in that they imply some physical act or exertion. Given a reasonable and natural construction, these terms ***** proscribe only some physical act which imposes an obstacle which may impede, hinder, interrupt, prevent or delay the performance of the officer\u2019s duties * * See also People v. Raby (1968), 40 Ill.2d 392, 240 N.E.2d 595.\nCarroll\u2019s running away was a physical act which impeded and delayed his arrest; it was also a forcible act of resistance. A person may not use force to resist an arrest by one whom he knows to be an officer of the law, even if the arrest is unlawful. Ill. Rev. Stat., 1967, ch. 38, par. 7\u20147.\nA police officer may not make an arrest unless he believes that probable cause exists justifying the arrest. Whether there is probable cause is initially a question for the arresting officer. Ultimately, however, it is a question for the courts. If a corut finds that there was no probable cause, the accused will be acquitted of the charge and evidence acquired as a result of the arrest will be suppressed. Since a police officer must make the initial determination, and since his office gives him the authority to make an arrest, an accused may not physically resist the arrest. He may inquire as to its reason; he may point out the officer\u2019s mistake; he may protest and argue; but he may not impede the arrest by physical\naction. The public interest in discouraging violence and in insisting on the use of peaceable methods of obtaining release from unlawful custody outweighs the outrage felt by the individual who is subjected to unlawful police conduct. Committee Comments, S.H.A., ch. 38, sec. 7\u20147; cf. People v. Fort (1968), 91 Ill.App.2d 212, 234 N.E.2d 384. The invalidity of an arrest does not justify physical or forcible resistance under either par. 31\u20141 or 7\u20147. But cf. People v. Royer (1968), 101 Ill.App.2d 44, 242 N.E.2d 288.\nThe related character of sections 31\u20141 and 7\u20147 was discussed in Landry v. Daley, supra. The court noted that in spite of the fact that section 31 \u2014 1 does not proscribe resisting or obstructing an unauthorized act of a police officer, a private citizen who forcibly resists arrest, even though the arrest is itself unlawful, violates section 7\u20147. Thus, in People v. Young, supra, this court recognized a distinction between the right of a citizen to resist an attempt by a police officer to serve him with a search warrant intended for another individual, and the absence of any right to forcibly resist a police officer when being placed under arrest.\nCarroll was charged with resisting arrest by running into his home and threatening Perkins with a butcher knife. He was acquitted of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct \u2014 charges arising from the events which took place in his home after Perkins and some other officers pursued him there. The dismissal of these charges does not necessarily indicate that he peaceably yielded to arrest when he reached his house. But even if he did not threaten Perkins with a knife, his running into his home after being arrested was an act of resistance which justified his conviction.\nThe controlling factual question is whether he was placed under arrest before or after he ran. Carroll testified that he walked slowly from the scene because he wanted to see if his mother was coming; that he ran because Perkins, who had called him \u201cfat boy\u201d and more vulgar names, had his hand on his hip when he jumped the ditch and CarroH was afraid he was going to puU his gun. Although he did not deny hearing Perkins say that he was under arrest, the purport of his testimony and that of his witnesses was that he was not arrested until he had been chased into his home, at which time he submitted without resistance. However, Perkins testified that CarroH ran after being told he was under arrest and instructed to enter a pohce car. The officer was compelled to pursue him to effectuate the arrest.\nThe resolution of conflicting testimony is for the determination of the trier of fact. Only when the evidence creates a reasonable doubt of guilt wiH the decision of the trial court be disturbed. People v. Hoffman (1970), 45 Ill.2d 221, 258 N.E.2d 326; People v. Strong (1970), 120 Ill. App.2d 52, 256 N.E.2d 76.\nThe trial court found that Perkins arrested Carroll and that Carroll resisted the arrest as charged in the complaint. The finding was supported by the evidence and the judgment is affirmed.\nJudgment affirmed.\nMcNAMARA, P. J., and McGLOON, J., concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "Mr. JUSTICE DEMPSEY" } ], "attorneys": [ "John E. McKeigue, of Chicago, for appellant.", "Edward V. Hanrahan, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, (Robert A. Novelle and Daniel J. Pierce, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People," ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "The People of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles R. Carroll, Defendant-Appellant.\n(No. 55039;\nFirst District\nMay 6, 1971.\nJohn E. McKeigue, of Chicago, for appellant.\nEdward V. Hanrahan, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, (Robert A. Novelle and Daniel J. Pierce, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People," }, "file_name": "0078-01", "first_page_order": 100, "last_page_order": 104 }