"none of your business, officer"

[RichD]

Yesterday, in a restaurant, I saw a person bleeding on
his face. Pouring down one side, apparently a scalp
wound, he didn't appear seriously injured.

Murphy's law, there was a cop inside, on break, I guess
the Dunkin Donuts was closed. He saw this, approached
the man, started the questioning.

Now what if he responds, "a little accident, I got nothing
to say, piss off." Does the cop have any right to harass
him? Official contact entails two criteria: a reasonable
belief that a crime has been committed, and reason to
believe the person is a suspect.

Can he detain the injured party, in the situation described?

--
Rich

[Rick]

"RichD" wrote in message
news:c8aa6a97-2524-4cd9...@googlegroups.com...

Based just on the information provided, no. But let's say the cop got a
report of a crime being committed in the area and a suspect on the run
matching the general description of the person, then you'd have a different
situation.

--

[Roy]

I believe there is an exception for an injured person All injuries may
mot be visible. Certainly a few questions to ascertain if a person has
suffered a concussion, stroke, or other problems with reasoning should
be allowed especially with a head injury. My wife had a stroke about a
month ago and for the first few hours in the ER, she was questioned
every 15-20 minutes or so with questions like: What is your name, what
is your birth date. do you know where you are, count backwards from 100
by sevens.

I could easily envision a scenario where the person is so drunk that
they fell down and hit their head. The person could be detained where
the officer thinks they are a danger to themselves or others

[Rick]

"Roy" wrote in message news:t5kpt4$una$1...@dont-email.me...

That's a valid point. I would amend my response to say if the officer
believes the person to be impaired and to pose a possible risk to himself or
others, he can definitely and probably should step in.

--