People v. Dreares

• Decision Date: 26 April 1962
• Citation: People v. Dreares, 228 N.Y.S.2d 467, 11 N.Y.2d 906 (N.Y. 1962)
• Parties: , 182 N.E.2d 812 The PEOPLE, etc., Appellant, v. Albert DREARES, Respondent.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 467

228 N.Y.S.2d 467

11 N.Y.2d 906, 182 N.E.2d 812

The PEOPLE, etc., Appellant, v. Albert DREARES, Respondent.

Court of Appeals of New York.

April 26, 1962.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, 15 A.D.2d 204, 221 N.Y.S.2d 819.

The defendant was charged with assault in the third degree. The prosecution resulted from his having violently resisted arrest by Transit Authority police on a charge of loitering in a subway station in violation of the Penal Law, Consol.Laws, c. 40, § 1990-a, subd. 2, a charge of which he was later acquitted.

The defendant was convicted in the Court of Special Sessions of the City of New York of assault in the third degree in violation of the Penal Law, § 244, and he appealed.

The Appellate Division, Breitel, J. P., reversed the judgment on the law only, dismissed the information, and held that the acquittal of the defendant on a charge of loitering established that his arrest was unlawful, so that he was entitled to resist arrest with reasonable force.

The People of the State of New York appealed to the Court of Appeals, contending that the acquittal of the defendant for loitering was not an adjudication that his arrest for loitering was unlawful, and that since the arrest of the defendant for loitering was lawful, the assault upon the arresting officer was without...