4 Conn. Cir. Ct. 530 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1967
The defendant having entered pleas of not guilty to charges of indecent exposure and resisting arrest in violation of § 53-220 and § 53-165, respectively, of the General Statutes, and having been found guilty on each count, has appealed. The defendant has assigned error in his conviction on each count in the denial of his motion to correct the finding, in the court’s conclusions and in the conclusion that on all the evidence he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Upon the last
The following facts were found: On November 17, 1966, at approximately 7:30 p.m., the defendant was operating a motor vehicle in Milford with a seventeen-year-old girl. The defendant and the girl were strangers until the time and place in question. The fly of the defendant’s trousers became open and the girl observed that he was wearing white underpants and was shaking his hand in the region of his sexual organ. She realized what he was doing and looked away. The defendant requested the girl to come nearer to him, placed his arm around her neck and ran his hand through her hair. The court concluded the defendant was masturbating and had wantonly and indecently exposed his person. As to the second count, the court found that information was received by a Milford police officer concerning the actions of the defendant, and the officer immediately went to the area where the 'defendant had parked his car and requested the defendant to accompany him to a confrontation with the girl. As the defendant, accompanied by two police officers, was walking to a store where the girl then was, the defendant ran off. The officers chased him and a scuffle occurred. The defendant was placed under arrest and handcuffed. The defendant was then on the ground and refused to get up. As a result, he was carried to a police car by the officers. The court concluded that the defendant had resisted the officers in the administration of justice while in the execution of their office.
The defendant assigns error in the court’s conclusion that there had been an indecent exposure
Error is also assigned in the court’s conclusion that the defendant resisted arrest. The defendant contends that until such time as he was actually placed under arrest, his conduct in running away could not be considered as resisting an arrest. There is no question that the officer could make a lawful arrest, relying as he did upon speedy information to justify it. General Statutes § 6-49; State v. DelVecchio, 149 Conn. 567, 574. The defendant volunteered to accompany the officer for purposes of confrontation with the complaining witness. When he suddenly ran away, his flight, together with other particulars just related to the officer added greater credence to the speedy information. See State v. Chin Lung, 106 Conn. 701, 714; 1 Wharton, Criminal Evidence (12th Ed.) § 140. During the tussle accompanying his apprehension, the defendant was placed under arrest. Officer McMullen on direct examination testified: “He resisted us to the extent of us placing our hands on him. We grabbed ahold of him and then he laid down on the
There is no error as to the second count; there is error as to the first count; the case is remanded with direction to modify the judgment as to the first count to adjudge the defendant not guilty on that count.
In this opinion Kosicki and Kinmonth, Js., concurred.