Question: How do you prove a “false arrest”?
Answer: A false arrest requires absence of probable cause. Indiana Code section 35–33–1–1 provides:
(a) A law enforcement officer may arrest a person when the officer has: (1) a warrant commanding that the person be arrested; …(4) probable cause to believe the person is committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor in the officer’s presence; (5) probable cause to believe the person has committed a: (A) battery resulting in bodily injury ; or (B) domestic battery.
The officer may use an affidavit executed by an individual alleged to have direct knowledge of the incident alleging the elements of the offense of battery to establish probable cause.
The probable cause determination turns on “whether a reasonable person, under the facts and circumstances encountered by the arresting officer, would believe that the suspect had committed or was committing a criminal offense This standard is an objective one and subjective intentions play no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis.