Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia
restraining someone who is smashing windows at my car?
Well, over the past month my family and I have had all of our cars egged with damage to 2 out of our 4 vehicles in the form of an impact mark that damaged the paint. The eggings have happened only twice until now. The police were informed of the incidents but no report was filed. Last night, the perpetrators threw a rock at my mother's minivan and smashed one window out. We are getting fed up and the police were also called for that incident but did not come to our house to file a report as of yet.
My question is, if I sat on our front porch for about an hour just waiting to see if a car or people stopped to throw something, would I be arrested or in legal trouble if I were to tackle them to the ground, and then restrain them until the police arrived? Or, would I be in legal trouble if they were in a vehicle and then I jumped in my vehicle and chased them to get a license plate number? In addition, would getting a license plate number really have any usefullness if we decided to press charges against them? In other words, would getting a license plate number be useless because they could just say that it was not them?
I just need to know what the appropriate action would be to catch these people. Thank you
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: restraining someone who is smashing windows at my car?
Tackling an alleged perpetrator could lead to civil or criminal charges against you. Videotaping or even a good clear photo would likely be much more useful.
The license plate number of the vehicle containing the alleged perpetrator(s) would also be useful as long as you are able to provide an actual description of the alleged perpetrator(s) doing the illegal act.
You should not be waiting for the police to come to your house to complete a report, but rather, once you have the required information necessary to identify the alleged perpetrator(s), you yourself should go down to the local magistrate's office to file charges, beginning with destruction of property, and whatever else that may be appropriate.
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