Chased a burglar off, Pa questions

I know you guys arent lawyers or anything but just looking for opinions or past experiences as google searches on detaining intruders seem to bring me to this site. Im in Pennsylvania.

Do I have the option to detain them on my property? sometimes the state police are 20 minutes away and I am pretty rural.

Ive been broken into 3 times in 5 years, this last time I put up a camera and caught them in the act, at that time I thought it best to scare them off, and by dumb luck the state police stopped one of them walking down the road a mile or 2 and he gave them his correct info. The other is at large.

After looking at his 4 page rap sheet I figure I could have buried him out back, his buddy has the same legal record as the guy they caught.

vantard said:

I know you guys arent lawyers or anything but just looking for opinions or past experiences as google searches on detaining intruders seem to bring me to this site. Im in Pennsylvania.

Do I have the option to detain them on my property? sometimes the state police are 20 minutes away and I am pretty rural.

Ive been broken into 3 times in 5 years, this last time I put up a camera and caught them in the act, at that time I thought it best to scare them off, and by dumb luck the state police stopped one of them walking down the road a mile or 2 and he gave them his correct info. The other is at large.

After looking at his 4 page rap sheet I figure I could have buried him out back, his buddy has the same legal record as the guy they caught.

Click to expand...

It would seem so:
http://www.ehow.com/facts_6911831_citizen_s-arrest-probable-cause-pennsylvania.html

http://reference.pafoa.org/statutes/PA/18/I/5/507/use-of-force-for-the-protection-of-property/

What part of Pa. are you in?

vantard said:

I know you guys arent lawyers or anything but just looking for opinions or past experiences as google searches on detaining intruders seem to bring me to this site. Im in Pennsylvania.

Do I have the option to detain them on my property? sometimes the state police are 20 minutes away and I am pretty rural.

Ive been broken into 3 times in 5 years, this last time I put up a camera and caught them in the act, at that time I thought it best to scare them off, and by dumb luck the state police stopped one of them walking down the road a mile or 2 and he gave them his correct info. The other is at large.

After looking at his 4 page rap sheet I figure I could have buried him out back, his buddy has the same legal record as the guy they caught.

Click to expand...

Grapeshot said:

It would seem so:
http://www.ehow.com/facts_6911831_citizen_s-arrest-probable-cause-pennsylvania.html

http://reference.pafoa.org/statutes/PA/18/I/5/507/use-of-force-for-the-protection-of-property/

Click to expand...

Be careful here. OP I would suggest you consult a reputable attorney about this. An attorney I spoke with a while back was
very quick to establish that there is a difference between "force" and "deadly or lethal force"

There are plenty of examples of folks deploying a firearm in what appears to be a clear case of self-defense, and these poor folks
have had their lives ruined as our criminal justice system chewed them up and spit them out. Deploying your weapon and holding
a person against their will over a crime less severe than an attempt on your life likely won't be a walk in the park. Unfortunately.

There seems to be no logical flow to the vastly different ways law-abiding citizens are treated when caught up in these kinds of
situations.

Gunlawyer001 on PAFOA, an experienced criminal defense attorney who is incredibly knowledgeable in PA firearms laws has this to
say...

"Our criminal justice system isn't some game you get to dabble in. It's a giant hammer waiting to smash you because you're an
evil gun owner, and the system mostly doesn't like you."

Make sure, as you consider going for that weapon, that what you are about to do is the better alternative to bankrupting your
now homeless family in legal fees and processes as you spend 20 years in prison, and are now unable to protect them at all.

There are many DAs in Pennsylvania that cannot wait to hang a gun owner for the audacity of using their weapon.

Be careful. And good luck.

Curmudgeon said:

"Our criminal justice system isn't some game you get to dabble in. It's a giant hammer waiting to smash you because you're an evil gun owner, and the system mostly doesn't like you."

Click to expand...

Agreed, I like that quote

Thanks for the information and links, I was just thinking it through as its not if but when it will happen again. Since the police can be pretty far out, I have found the longer criminals are rifling through my stuff the more damage they do, in this case I also had a shotgun (bird shot) that I left in the barn that day. Which I only remembered when I saw in the video a few feet from them so I decided to chase them off as quickly as possible instead of letting them get caught in the act by the state police.

I am in South East PA

A citizen arrest carries a good about of civil liability risk ... a robber likely should not be shot in the back under most circumstances; its hard to justify it (a killer usually can but that's different altogether). I would avoid shooting one at all unless he is threatening your safety directly.