Com. v. Eberhardt
| Decision Date | 07 October 1982 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Anthony EBERHARDT, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
G. William Bills, Jr., Pittsburgh, for appellant.
Robert L. Eberhardt, Deputy Dist. Atty., for Commonwealth, appellee.
Before WIEAND, JOHNSON and MONTEMURO, JJ.
Appellant was found guilty, following a non-jury trial, of Resisting Arrest 1 and placed on one year probation. On appeal, he raises two issues: (1) that the lower court erred in denying his motion for demurrer because the Commonwealth failed to prove an essential element of the crime, i.e., a lawful arrest, and (2) that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict.
Because of our disposition of this case, we need only consider the second issue, concerning the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. The test is whether, reading the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth and drawing all reasonable inferences therefrom, the Commonwealth has proven all the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Contakos, 492 Pa. 465, 424 A.2d 1284 (1981).
Reading the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the facts established at trial are these. The incident occurred at the home of the appellant. Three Pittsburgh police officers, in possession of an arrest warrant for appellant, went to his residence and were admitted into the home by appellant's brothers and sisters. A search of the second floor revealed appellant lying underneath a bed. After the officers removed appellant from underneath the bed, he began to scuffle with them, claiming he was not Anthony Eberhardt. The scuffle proceeded into the living room and then downstairs into the dining room. During the scuffle, much furniture was overturned and one of the officers sustained a bruise on his forearm. Appellant, finally breaking free, darted to the third floor of the home, exited through a window onto a porch, and successfully fled the area. Three days later, appellant was located on the Northside of Pittsburgh and was placed under arrest, without incident, by police officers.
The statute on resisting arrest, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5104 states:
§ 5014. Resisting arrest or other law enforcement
A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if, with the intent of preventing a public servant from effecting a lawful arrest or discharging any other duty, the person creates a substantial risk of bodily injury to the public servant or anyone else, or employs means justifying or requiring substantial force to overcome the resistance.
Appellant was charged, in the information, as follows:
The actor, with the intent of preventing a public servant, namely, Pittsburgh Police Officer Fred Wolfe from effecting a lawful arrest for burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and conspiracy created a substantial risk of bodily injury to the said public servant by knowingly, wilfully and forcibly obstructing, resisting and opposing the said officer in violation of Section 5104 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code, Act of December 6, 1972, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5104.
This charge goes only to the first of the two disjunctive provisions found in § 5104.
This court in Commonwealth v. Rainey, 285 Pa.Super. 75, 426 A.2d 1148 (1981), reversed and discharged the defendant on a conviction of resisting arrest due to insufficient evidence. In Rainey, two Harrisburg police officers found the defendant lying on the floor of a vacant apartment in an inebriated condition. One officer escorted the defendant to a waiting police van and upon reaching it, defendant tried to break away. Defendant's conduct consisted of wriggling, squirming and shaking himself violently in an attempt to free himself from the officer's grasp. One officer struck the defendant on the head with his nightstick and another officer grabbed him by the throat. It eventually required three officers to subdue the defendant but the officers admitted that at no time did the defendant strike or kick anyone, only that he tried to squirm and twist his way free of their grasp. Based on this...
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United States v. Harris
...(analyzing the two parts of the statute and deciding that the defendant's conduct satisfied each part); Commonwealth v. Eberhardt, 304 Pa.Super. 222, 224, 450 A.2d 651, 652 (1982) (treating each part as separate violations of the statute).13 Section 3502 has gone through subsequent revision......
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Harris v. Kingston Mun. Police Dep't
...to scuffle with them” and “[d]uring the scuffle, much furniture was overturned and one of the officers sustained a bruise on his forearm.” Id. at 652. The defendant broke free of the officers and fled the area but was located and arrested three days later. Id. Commonwealth v. Miller, 475 A.......
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