Citizen’s Arrest allows you to detain someone if you directly witnessed them commit a crime. Deadly force is only allowed when you are under threat of serious physical harm yourself. Walking through an open construction sight is not a felony, the McMichaels has no reasonable justification for threatening deadly force by brandishing firearms, and trespassing is only a crime if you’ve been told to leave by the owner or police, and you refuse.

If Arbery had been armed, and two unknown people rolled up in a truck, blocked his path, said “stop we want to talk to you”, and then brandished guns, Arbery would have been fully justified to shoot them out of fear for his life. And since that’s true, Arbery’s choice to fight the man with a gun is also justified, since a fist fight is plainly less force than shooting.

Citizen’s Arrest allows you to detain someone if you directly witnessed them commit a crime. Deadly force is only allowed when you are under threat of serious physical harm yourself. Walking through an open construction sight is not a felony, the McMichaels has no reasonable justification for threatening deadly force by brandishing firearms, and trespassing is only a crime if you’ve been told to leave by the owner or police, and you refuse.

If Arbery had been armed, and two unknown people rolled up in a truck, blocked his path, said “stop we want to talk to you”, and then brandished guns, Arbery would have been fully justified to shoot them out of fear for his life. And since that’s true, Arbery’s choice to fight the man with a gun is also justified, since a fist fight is plainly less force than shooting.

Citizen’s Arrest only applies to felonies. Walking through an open construction sight is not a felony. And trespassing is only a crime if you’ve been told to leave by the owner or police, and you refuse. Therefore, the McMichaels has zero legal authority to detain Arbery.

If Arbery had been armed, and two unknown people rolled up in a truck, blocked his path, said “stop we want to talk to you”, and then brandished guns, Arbery would have been fully justified to shoot them out of fear for his life. And since that’s true, Arbery’s choice to fight the man with a gun is also justified, since a fist fight is plainly less force than shooting.