Indiana Supreme Court says Legislature should consider changes to resisting statute

Court seeks clarity on resource, law enforcement

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Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Posted: 02/22/2013
Last Updated: 86 days ago

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Supreme Court has asked the Legislature to consider tweaking the state statute regarding resisting law enforcement after it overturned the conviction of a teen student.

A girl was involved in a fight at school and turned away as a school resource officer attempted to handcuff her.

The court ruled that there wasn't enough evidence that the girl forcibly resisted arrest, but it posed a question to the Legislature.

Current Indiana law doesn't have school resource officers on the list of people covered under the state's resisting arrest statute.

"The current statute applies to law-enforcement officers only when they are engaged in law-enforcement duties, which does not always apply to the different, though important, duties of a school officer," the court's opinion read.

The court said it is reluctant to blur the line between school discipline and law enforcement duties by allowing the same officer to "invisibly 'switch hats,' taking a disciplinary role to conduct a warrantless search in one moment, then in the next taking a law-enforcement role to make an arrest based on the fruits of that search."

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


Indianapolis , IN  
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