State v. McAteer

We respectfully dissent. The majority1 opinion engages in a tortured analysis which relies on very little South Carolina law for support and whose policy will leave in its wake very little order.

VALIDITY OF THE ARREST

The majority hinges its opinion exclusively on dicta in this Court’s opinion in State v. Nall, 304 S.C. 332, 404 S.E.2d 202 (Ct.App.1991), and on sources from other jurisdictions to support its position the common law grants private persons the authority to arrest for a breach of the peace misdemeanor committed in their presence. A review of the history of citizen’s arrest in…