I'll treat police officers no differently than I would anyone else in need of assistance. Given the totality of the situation, mines and theirs, I'd be extremely careful about intervention/assistance. As police like to say to justify their actions, good or bad, "I did x ,y or z because I want to go home to my family at the end of the day", well so do I. A police officer's life or any other stranger's is not worth any more than mine or my family.VMI77 wrote:They have no duty to protect you but depending on where you live you may be legally obligated to assist them. For example.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refusing_ ... ce_officer
Texas
Art. 2.14. MAY SUMMON AID.[42]
Whenever a peace officer meets with resistance in discharging any duty imposed upon him by law, he shall summon a sufficient number of citizens of his county to overcome the resistance; and all persons summoned are bound to obey.
Art. 2.15. PERSON REFUSING TO AID. The peace officer who has summoned any person to assist him in performing any duty shall report such person, if he refuse to obey, to the proper district or county attorney, in order that he may be prosecuted for the offense.Some people were recently charged with this offense somewhere in the south...Alabama or Mississippi I think.Alabama
ALA CODE § 13A-10-5 : Alabama Code - Section 13A-10-5:
REFUSING TO AID PEACE OFFICER [3]
(a) A person commits the crime of refusing to aid a peace officer if, upon command by a peace officer identified to him as such, he fails or refuses to aid such peace officer in:
(1) Effecting or securing a lawful arrest; or
(2) Preventing the commission by another person of any offense.
(b) A person is not liable under this section if the failure or refusal to aid the officer was reasonable under the circumstances. The burden of injecting this issue is on the defendant, but this does not shift the burden of proof.
(c) Refusing to aid a peace officer is a Class C misdemeanor.''
So at the risk of sounding anticop I'll proceed along the same lines as they do, no obligation to protect or assist. Now, does that mean I'd never intervene or assist, no, I'll just have to weigh the factors and make a judgment call, not just follow blindly because they said so.