Facts: The appellant challenged the judgment from the trial court, Dallas County (Texas), which convicted the appellant for resisting arrest. While at a musical concert, the appellant got on the stage and was pushed off and onto the ground by performing band members, at which time the appellant was arrested for disorderly conduct. Officers later arrived at the security office to transport the appellant to jail, and the appellant became belligerent, striking an officer in the face.
Procedural History: The court agreed and reversed, and reformed the judgment to show acquittal. The court held that the evidence taken as a whole was insufficient to support the conviction. The court held that the arrest was complete immediately after the appellant was pushed off of the stage and thus, his later violent actions could not have been in resistance to the arrest.
Issue: Whether the applicant was resisting arrest and dragged the officers for some distance as they were attempting to complete the act of arresting?
Answer: Such behavior upon arrest is not considered resistance and is not sufficient for such an accusation. The State could have chosen to charge the appellant with either of these offenses or some other offense provable on the facts of record in this case but instead decided to charge him for and attempt to prove the offense of resisting arrest in his act of “pulling away” from Officer Smith.
Reasoning: Police officers are sometimes trained that certain behavioral cues predict impending violent behavior (Johnson, R. R. (2019). The concept of resistance to arrest is too broad and would allow one to sue for minimal resistance.
Holding: The judgment is reversed and reformed to show an acquittal.
Reference
Johnson, R. R. (2019). Exploring the validity of behavioral cues predictive of physically resisting arrest. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 34(2), 134-144.