Photo: Shutterstock 20 Feet Too Far: Virginia Court Reverses Conviction, Concludes It Is Only State to Include 'Immediate Physical Ability' to Arrest Fleeing Suspect
"Virginia appears to be the only state in the country that includes as an element of its fleeing-from-arrest law that the defendant must be within the officer's immediate physical ability to place the person under arrest," Judge Stuart A. Raphael wrote on behalf of the majority.
July 28, 2023 at 07:27 PM
6 minute read
The Virginia Court of Appeals reversed a defendant's conviction of fleeing from a law enforcement officer, finding the arresting officer got no closer than 20 yards to the suspect—a distance too great to satisfy the statutory proximity requirement.
In a July 25 opinion, authored by Judge Stuart A. Raphael, the Virginia Court of Appeals determined that as a matter of law, the distance between Jesse Ryan Hackett and the police officer who was attempting to make a lawful arrest was too great to satisfy the statutory proximity requirement outlined in Code Section 18.2-460(E), which makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to knowingly flee from a law enforcement officer attempting to make a lawful arrest.
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