Well that part clearly falls into “man-trap” territory.
Not that I think it’s a bad idea…
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In other words, “Science the shit out of it”?
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I’m just pretending I know what @shaddack would say. I’m sure he’d come up with something more plausible though.
Set aside the fact that citizen’s arrests are not a thing in some places, and only kinda-sorta technically a thing in some others. If your otherwise valid citizen’s arrest takes the form of you nailing a guy’s doors and windows shut after he’s gone to bed, and then calling the police the next morning to let them know you’ve trapped him for them, they’re probably going to arrest you instead.
And in the unlikely event of a fire, or in the somewhat more likely event of him injuring himself trying to escape, you can be on the hook for more serious crimes than kidnapping/unlawful arrest/etc.
Committing burglary makes you a criminal. It does not mean that crimes can then be committed against you with impunity, including kidnapping. Now, if someone were on the other side of the door shouting “I’ve called the police, burglar,” okay. But if that trap had been unwatched, and the guy ended up spending hours there? The owner wouldn’t have stayed free long enough to post the video to YouTube. Honestly, given that an hour passed as it was, I’m wondering if the owner weren’t pulled aside for a very stern lecture that he neglected to mention in his editorial comments.
To put it another way, in many states it’s lawful to use deadly force to defend your property. If some dude breaks into your house and you catch him with your valuables, you can shoot him without worrying too much about consequences. In those same places, you absolutely will go to jail for some flavor of murder if you defend your valuables by setting up a tripwire and a shotgun at your front door every night, even if the person you eventually shot was an escaped convict in the process of breaking in. It’s illegal even to try.
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What about electric fences? Why aren’t those illegal?
I’m not sure they ever are legal, of the sort that can kill or seriously injure a person (rather than, say, annoy a cow). In fact, I’ve never seen such a fence except on TV. The kind they have on farms will not kill you.
But if and where a person-killing fence were permitted (a military base, maybe?), I’m guessing that part of the rule is EXTREMELY prominent signage.
How much more extreme signage than properly locked doors and windows?
You could have a locked door on a burning building, and the fireman breaks door in rushes to save someone’s life and is slain by your trap. I think a locked door is not a sufficient “you can die due to security traps” warning. You would need something so visible nobody who walked through the door could possibly have missed it (would kind of ruin the surprise factor but then setting unmanned traps for humans even bad ones is kind of a dick move).
For an electric fence designed to kill intruders, if such a thing were ever legal, which I’m pretty sure it’s not for civilians? A hell of a lot more extreme, I suppose.
Remember, the point here is not to protect burglars–it’s to protect human life, which is a class that includes burglars. It’s not being soft on crime to outlaw kidnapping or manslaughter, even when those are the consequences of an otherwise righteous burglary-prevention scheme.
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Neither. I have a vague (internet-style) understanding of the law, and see this as a kidnapping. I hope that the legal system goes easy on the shopkeeper, but we’ll see how it turns out.
I thought he was on to something when he attacked the wall on the left side and it had some give. It looked like vertical wood panels; if he had pried one or more off with his claw hammer I bet the far side was drywall (albeit possibly blocked by a store fixture). A few of those panels stacked up, in conjunction with the bucket, might have given him a fairly hefty lever with which to attack one of the other two doors as well.
I was puzzled by the way the timestamp seemed to go back an hour at the cut where suddenly the door was open and the guy was wearing different clothes (?) I wonder if the guy saw and disabled camera 10, and the store owner’s lawyer told him not to post that part (and the door opening).
You’re certain enough to add “for sure”, and doubtful enough to add “I would think”. I completely agree.
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Were they? It doesn’t look like it. The timestamp when he gets into the locked room is 04:05… When it cuts and shows him having made it into the room on the left is 05:06. So he was in there for a good hour. Still not exactly a long term confinement, but not an immediate release either.
Having said that, I’m not sure that kidnapping applies when the victim wilfully puts themselves into the situation. But there is a certain aspect of “building a trap for a human” here. It might depend on what the sign says on that door that he went into to get into the locked room. I see a stop sign there, but can’t read what the rest of it says.
Also: if the cop hadn’t had the perp lie down with his feet still out the door, he would have been trapped in the room too. Though there’s some shadows there, that imply that there may have been some backup in the other room (I kinda hope there was, otherwise this cop was VERY trusting turning his back on the criminal like that).
I don’t think it is a citizen’s arrest if you aren’t there to perform an arrest. This is a man trap. It would have trapped anyone regardless of why they were there. If it was the landlord performing an emergency inspection, an emergency responder such as police or fire officials, etc. could have also ended up trapped.
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The scourge of free range urban cattle is a problem most of America chooses to ignore.
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Years ago, when I lived in New Mexico, a business owner was tired of having his business burglarized by people entering via the building’s skylight. He placed a grid of electrified wires a few feet below the skylight, and killed the next burglar. Yes, he was arrested for, tried, and convicted of murder.
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That shit makes me livid…
I usually start singing Biafra’s ode to the Hamlet Chicken Plant…
Down in Hamlet, North Carolina They had a chicken plant sure did explode Them tar heels trapped like burnin' rats Cuz the boss man chained the door closed
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Speaking from experience, agreed. While you’re still killing an animal, it’s a much more sure and humane way to deal with them than the spring traps.
This is a mantrap.
Since there was nobody actively managing it (e.g., an onsite guard) it is likely illegal under fire codes, if nothing else.
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