WHAT IS THE BIGGEST NO-NO WHEN BEING ARRESTED?

In order of likelihood of making matters worse, do not:

Offer physical resistance, either violent or nonviolent.

Attempt to escape.

Refuse to comply with reasonable directives.

Verbally abuse the officer or otherwise be disrespectful.

Doing the first two have a high degree of probability of leading to physical injury, and they will certainly lead to additional charges.

Doing the third has a lesser chance of physical injury but can lead to additional charges.

Doing the last has a low chance of resulting in injury unless you are being arrested by an unprofessional police officer or an officer who has been having a bad day. It could, however, result in additional or elevated charges. If it is a warrantless arrest, it’s the officer’s decision what charge to book you under. Almost every criminal act violates a number of statutes. Copping an attitude increases the likelihood of getting booked under the highest number of charges and/or the most severe charges. There is a high percentage of prosecutors who will simply rubber stamp the officer’s charges without engaging in the requisite critical analysis.

Here are a couple of do’s:

Respectfully decline to answer questions about the charge on grounds that the answers might tend to incriminate you. You might think you can bull skate your way out of trouble, but you’ll more likely dig a hole for yourself with your tongue.

Ask for a lawyer. You’re probably not going to get one, but this should end questioning, and if it doesn’t, whatever answers you give to continued questioning are likely to be held inadmissible.

Do remember that the officer is most likely a decent human being with a family he/she would like to go home to at the end of the shift, and in this day of escalating violence against officers they can tend to be jumpy.