Mike Lovell <mike....@null.local> wrote in
news:slrnjdb1i0.kf...@usenet.home.b0h0.com:
> Pepper spray is non-lethal, it's used by the police for
> trivial things. Why not?
Because they have received training to use it, and if they follow their
training, they (individually & corporately) are protected against
lawsuits for using unreasonable force.
> If someone flat out refuses to leave your property then remove them.
I can give you an actual case that happened to me. I owned property in
New Brunswick while I was living in Ontario. The property had a derelict
house. Potential tenants asked a relative about it, and were told that it
was not really habitable, but they could go in to inspect it (with intent
to come up with an agreement about who would pay to renovate what) and
that I would be down in a few weeks to do a roofing job to discuss it
with them.
When I got there, they had moved in all their stuff, papered and painted,
hooked up the electricity, and called the oil company to estimate the
cost of a new furnace. They claimed that they had a verbal contract to
rent the premises given through my relative acting as my "agent".
I am not sure, but I believe that they were attempting to use an old law
(intended to support long-term live-in hired help on a farm who had
invested in the property) to make it impossible to evict them.
I called the cops and the cops said that since the squatters had
permission to enter the house, I could not charge them with break-enter
or trespassing, and that it would be up to a civil court to determine if
they actually had a verbal rental contract. I would need to take them to
court in order to get an eviction notice, despite the fact that they did
not have a written tenancy agreement.
So, if I had used force to remove someone who flat out refused to leave
my property, I would be the one facing assault charges.
In case you're wondering, they left only after I made it clear to them
that I would not purchase a new furnace, and that they legally could not
install one.
> If you don't want to risk injuring yourself while doing so (maybe they
> are a lot larger than you) then incapacitating them somehow would seem
> like a good option.
Calling the cops is usually a better idea. A lot depends on the
particulars about why the intruder is there, if he is causing damage, and
what sort of a threat he presents. I am not a lawyer, and I suspect it
depends also on your jurisdiction.
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