What are the circumstances in which a police officer who spotlighted and arrested a man in the middle of the night on a street?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Chavarin, H041443 (Cal. App. 2016):

The facts of this case are not analogous to the circumstances in People v. Garry (2007) 156 Cal.App.4th 1100 (Garry) as argued by defendant. In Garry, a police officer, who was patrolling "a high-crime, high-drug area" late at night, turned on his patrol vehicle's spotlight, illuminating the defendant. (Id. at pp. 1103-1104.) The evidence indicated that the officer, "immediately after spotlighting [the] defendant, all but ran directly at him, covering 35 feet in just two and one-half to three seconds, asking [the] defendant about his legal status as he did so." (Id. at p. 1112.) During that approach, the defendant indicated that he lived " 'right there' and took three or four steps back . . . ." (Id. at p. 1104.) The defendant answered that he was on parole in response to the officer's question, "Are you on probation or parole?" (Id. at pp. 1104-1105.) "[The officer] reached out and grabbed [the defendant], but [the] defendant started to pull away 'violently.' As defendant continued to actively resist, [the officer] put defendant in an arm-shoulder lock and put him on the ground and handcuffed him. [The officer] arrested defendant and searched him incident to arrest." (Id. at p. 1104.)

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