Citizen’s Arrest in Colorado – When & How Can I Make One?

CRS § 16-3-201 is the Colorado statute that allows you to make a citizen’s arrest, but only if you actually witness the crime taking place. Making an unlawful citizen’s arrest could result in criminal charges for

• First-degree assault,
• Second-degree assault,
• False imprisonment,
• Kidnapping, and/or
• Impersonating a peace officer.

You could also face a civil lawsuit by the arrested person.

Examples

• Jim sees Jerry grab an old lady’s purse. Jim tackles Jerry and throws him to the ground. This is a legal arrest because Jim saw the robbery.
• Frank sees a commotion in a store. Someone says a man is robbing the store, so Frank tackles him. This too is a legal arrest because the robbery was ongoing at the time of the arrest.

Citizen’s arrests are largely a relic of the old Wild West when it was up to ordinary civilians to uphold the law, but they still happen.

The following flowchart shows the proper procedure for performing a citizen’s arrest.

Below, our Denver Colorado criminal defense attorneys will explain:

• 1. When can I make a citizen’s arrest in Colorado?
• 2. Defenses
• 3. Penalties
• 4. Related Offenses
• Additional Reading

1. When can I make a citizen’s arrest in Colorado?

Colorado Revised Statute 16-3-201 expressly allows you as a private citizen to make a citizen’s arrest if a crime happens in your presence. You can use reasonable force while making this arrest.

The law also immunizes you from criminal charges and civil liability that would typically follow from the force you used to make the arrest.

Public policy relies on “Good Samaritans” enforcing the law when peace officers cannot. If not for civil immunity, people may be too afraid to make a citizen’s arrest out of fear of lawsuits.

What does it mean to be in the presence of the citizen?

CRS 16-3-201 allows you to make a citizen’s arrest only if a crime was committed in your presence. A crime is considered to be in your presence if you can directly see or sense it.

It is also in your presence if there is probable cause to suggest the crime is ongoing or just completed. Or as the Colorado Supreme Court stated,

“The ‘in presence’ requirement is met if the arrestor observes acts which are in themselves sufficiently indicative of a crime in the course of commission.”¹

Example: David is in the lobby of a police station. Ray gets away from the police and runs, which is a Colorado crime. David hears someone yelling “stop that man!” and tackles him in a fight. This is a lawful citizen’s arrest.²

You cannot make a citizen’s arrest if the crime happened outside of your presence:

Example: Ken and his son learn that their neighbor sells controlled substances. They break into his apartment, put handcuffs on him, and bring him to the police. This is an illegal citizen’s arrest because Ken and his son did not witness the drug sale.³

Does the law apply to off-duty police officers?

Yes. Off-duty police officers are private citizens and can therefore make citizen’s arrests in any jurisdiction.

Example: Ralph is an undercover peace officer with the Boulder Police Department. He arrests a store owner for buying stolen items. Ralph does not realize that the store is 12 feet over the town line. The arrest is a citizen’s arrest under CRS 16-3-201 because it is outside his jurisdiction.⁴

How much force can be used while making a citizen’s arrest?

To make a citizen’s arrest in Colorado, you may use non-deadly force that is appropriate to the situation. It cannot be more than what is reasonably necessary to make the arrest or prevent an escape.⁵

The only time you can use deadly force to make a citizen’s arrest is if you reasonably believe it is necessary to defend yourself or someone else from deadly harm.

Example: David is standing in the lobby of the police station when Ray runs past. David hears someone shout “stop that man!” Rather than running after Ray, David draws a pistol and shoots him. David’s citizen’s arrest used excessive force, and David can be prosecuted.

2. Defenses

In our experience at Colorado Legal Defense Group, the following three defenses can be very effective at fighting allegations of an unlawful citizen’s arrest.

You Acted Out of Necessity

To prove a defense of necessity, you have to show the wrongful citizen’s arrest was only to prevent a worse thing from happening. This requires evidence that demonstrates:

• There was a risk of imminent harm that you did not cause,
• You acted to prevent that harm, and
• You had no other legal options.⁶

You Acted in Self-Defense or the Defense of Someone Else

A wrongful citizen’s arrest is justified if done in lawful self-defense or defense of others. Proving this requires evidence that:

1. You reasonably thought the person was about to use unlawful force, and
2. You used only as much force as reasonably necessary to protect against that force.

When determining whether self-defense is justified, jurors are instructed to look at the totality of the circumstances and consider what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.⁷

You Were Helping a Police Officer

A police officer can command you to help make an arrest under CRS 16-3-202. When this happens, you are immune to a criminal charge or civil lawsuit for following the police’s direction.⁸

Note that the city of Denver has an ordinance requiring people to aid police officers.⁹

3. Penalties

There are no penalties specifically for violating CRS 16-3-201 and making a wrongful citizen’s arrest. However, other criminal charges can be filed against you for an incorrect citizen’s arrest.

The penalties for these criminal charges can be significant. They can include thousands of dollars in fines and years in jail.

Example: George punches Mike during a citizen’s arrest for a robbery. However, the crime was not committed in George’s presence. Therefore, George gets charged with first-degree assault and false imprisonment.

If a wrongly arrested person files a civil lawsuit against you, you may have to pay thousands of dollars in compensation, as well.

4. Related Offenses

Violating CRS 16-3-201 often comes with other criminal charges related to the wrongful arrest.

First-Degree Assault

First-degree assault (CRS 18-3-202) makes it illegal to intentionally and seriously hurt someone.

Making a citizen’s arrest is something you do intentionally. Therefore, any serious injuries you inflict during the arrest can amount to assault in the first degree.

Also see our article on menacing (CRS 18-3-206), a.k.a. battery.

Second-Degree Assault

Second-degree assault (CRS 18-3-203) makes it illegal to intentionally hurt someone. Unlike assault in the first degree, though, it does not involve serious injuries.

Therefore if you hurt the person you were trying to arrest, you can face second-degree assault charges if the injuries you caused were not serious.

False Imprisonment

False imprisonment (CRS 18-3-303) makes it illegal to detain someone without their consent. If you trap, hold down, or detain the person you were arresting, it can lead to a charge of false imprisonment.

Example: Ken and his son wrongly arrest their neighbor for a robbery. After breaking into the neighbor’s apartment and handcuffing him, they decide to wait for the police to arrive. Ken and his son committed a false arrest.

Kidnapping

Colorado’s laws against kidnapping (CRS 18-3-301 and CRS 18-3-302) are similar to false imprisonment laws. However, kidnapping makes it illegal to detain and then move someone without their consent.

Example: Ken and his son conduct a wrongful citizen’s arrest on their neighbor. They break into his apartment and handcuff him. Then they force him into their car and bring him to the police.

Impersonating a Peace Officer

If you make a citizen’s arrest, you can be charged with impersonating a peace officer (CRS 18-8-112) if you falsely pretend to be the police.

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Citizen’s Arrest Doctrine: Enabling the Modern-Day Vigilante – LSU Law Journal for Social Justice & Policy.
• The Puzzling Persistence of Citizen’s Arrest Laws and the Need to Revisit Them – Howard Law Journal.
• Citizen’s Arrest and Race – Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law.
• Vilifying the Vigilante: A Narrowed Scope of Citizen’s Arrest – Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy.
• Reporting Crimes and Arresting Criminals: Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities Under Their Criminal Law – Criminal Law and Philosophy.

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