Me. Rev. Stat. » Title 17-A
Maine Revised Statutes

Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 16 (2026)

Warrantless arrests by a private person

✓ current as of May 2026
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Except as otherwise specifically provided, a private person has the authority to arrest without a warrant:   [PL 2007, c. 173, §7 (AMD).]
1.  Any person who the private person has probable cause to believe has committed or is committing:  
A. Murder; or   [PL 1977, c. 510, §25 (RPR).]
B. Any Class A, Class B or Class C crime.   [PL 1975, c. 740, §22 (NEW).]
[PL 2007, c. 173, §7 (AMD).]
2.  Any person who, in fact, is committing in the private person's presence and in a public place any of the Class D or Class E crimes described in section 207; 209; 211; 254; 255‑A; 501‑A, subsection 1, paragraph B; 503; 751; 806; or 1002.  
A. [PL 2007, c. 466, Pt. B, §11 (RP); PL 2007, c. 466, Pt. B, §12 (AFF).]
[PL 2007, c. 518, §5 (AMD).]
3.  For the purposes of subsection 2, in the presence has the same meaning given in section 15, subsection 2.  
[PL 1975, c. 740, §22 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1975, c. 740, §22 (NEW). PL 1977, c. 510, §25 (AMD). PL 1979, c. 127, §125 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 144, §1 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 173, §7 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 466, Pt. B, §11 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 466, Pt. B, §12 (AFF). PL 2007, c. 518, §5 (AMD).
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Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1983–2005 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Grise, 496 N.E.2d 162 (Mass. 1986).
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Commonwealth v. Grise, 496 N.E.2d 162 (Mass. 1986). “Penal Code § 837 (Deering 1983); Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 17-A, § 16 (1964); Minn.”
State v. Harding, 508 A.2d 471 (Me. 1986). · cites it 2× “None of the provisions of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 16, warrantless arrests by a private person, would have authorized Benson to arrest Harding as a private citizen for either a violation of 29 M.”
State v. LeGassey, 456 A.2d 366 (Me. 1983). “See 17-A M.R.S.A. § 16 (1983). 4 . The state bore the burden of showing the reasonableness of the warrantless seizure.”
State of Maine v. Binnie (Me. Super. Ct 2005). · cites it 2× “Authority to arrest as a private person (17-A M.R.S.A. § 16) Hulit was also not allowed to effect a “citizen’s arrest.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.