Under Indiana’s citizen’s arrest laws, a private person may arrest another only in three situations spelled out in Indiana Code 35-33-1-4: a felony committed in your presence, a felony that has occurred where you have probable cause to believe a specific person committed it, or a misdemeanor breach of peace happening in front of you that your arrest is needed to stop.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-33-1-4 – Any Person Step outside those grounds, or use more force than the situation calls for, and the arrest can flip into felony charges against you.
The Three Lawful Grounds
The statute is narrow on purpose. Each ground has its own requirements, and they are not interchangeable.
The first ground covers a felony committed in your presence. You saw it happen. This is the cleanest scenario because there is no question about whether a crime occurred or who did it.
The second ground covers a felony already committed where you have probable cause to believe a specific person committed it. You do not need to have witnessed it, but a hunch is not enough — the facts available to you must be strong enough that a reasonable person would draw the same conclusion. And a critical catch: if it turns out no felony actually happened, the arrest is unlawful no matter how genuine your belief was.
The third ground is the most restrictive. It reaches only misdemeanors involving a breach of peace, such as disorderly conduct or public fighting, and only while the breach is actively occurring. The arrest must be necessary to stop the disturbance. Once the fight ends on its own, this authority ends with it. You cannot use it to catch someone after the fact for a misdemeanor.
What You Must Do After the Arrest
Making the arrest triggers a legal duty. Indiana law requires you to notify a law enforcement officer as soon as practical and turn the person over to that officer.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-33-1-4 – Any Person This is not optional. It is part of the arrest authority itself.
Holding someone longer than needed to get police on scene is where citizen’s arrests most often go wrong. A citizen’s arrest bridges the gap until officers arrive. It does not replace them. Call 911 immediately. Do not question the person, search them, or take them anywhere.
How Much Force You Can Use
A separate statute, Indiana Code 35-41-3-3, governs force during a citizen’s arrest. You may use reasonable force to make the arrest or prevent escape, but only if a felony has been committed and you have probable cause to believe the person committed it.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-41-3-3 – Use of Force Relating to Arrest or Escape
Reasonable means the minimum needed under the circumstances. Grabbing an arm to stop someone from running is different from tackling a person who is standing still. Courts judge reasonableness by what you knew at the moment, but force that is clearly disproportionate to the threat will not survive scrutiny.
Deadly Force
The statute prohibits a private citizen from using deadly force during an arrest unless that force would be independently justified under Indiana’s self-defense law.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-41-3-3 – Use of Force Relating to Arrest or Escape In practice, that means you can only use lethal force if you reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to yourself or another person, or to stop a forcible felony.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-41-3-2 – Use of Force to Protect Person or Property
This is where private citizens and police diverge sharply. Officers have broader authority to use deadly force to stop a fleeing dangerous suspect. You do not. If someone is running away and poses no immediate threat of serious harm, deadly force is not justified — even if they just committed a serious felony. Prosecutions of citizens who attempted arrests most often come out of this exact scenario.
Shopkeeper’s Privilege Is a Different Rule
Retail theft has its own statute, and it is worth flagging because people mix the two up. Indiana Code 35-33-6-2 lets a store owner or agent with probable cause to believe a theft is happening or has happened detain the suspected shoplifter.4Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-33-6-2 During that detention the employee can ask for identification, verify it, check for unpurchased merchandise, and contact police.
The detention has to be reasonable in manner and duration, and it cannot last longer than two hours or until an officer arrives, whichever comes first. If the person detained is under 18, the store cannot ask them to sign anything admitting theft or waiving rights until the minor has had a chance to consult with a parent, guardian, or similar figure. Any statement obtained in violation of that rule cannot be used against the minor. Shopkeeper’s privilege applies to store personnel acting on suspected theft in the store. It does not extend the arrest authority of a random passerby.
Criminal Charges When the Arrest Isn’t Justified
An arrest that falls outside the statute can turn the arresting person into the defendant. The two most likely charges are criminal confinement and battery.
Criminal confinement is knowingly confining someone without their consent — a Level 6 felony at baseline under Indiana Code 35-42-3-3.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-42-3-3 – Criminal Confinement If your arrest was unjustified because you lacked probable cause or no qualifying crime happened, holding the person meets the definition. The charge escalates with aggravating facts such as bodily injury, use of a vehicle, or a deadly weapon, reaching as high as a Level 3 felony with years of prison time on the line.
Battery in Indiana covers any physical contact that is rude, insolent, or angry, starting as a Class B misdemeanor and climbing through Class A misdemeanor, Level 6 felony, and Level 5 felony as injuries grow more serious or weapons come into play.6Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-42-2-1 – Battery Restraining an unwilling person is physically messy. Injuries happen. If the arrest itself was not lawful, every one of those injuries becomes potential battery exposure for you.
Civil Lawsuits From the Person You Detained
Criminal charges are not the only risk. The person you held can sue you. The common claims are false imprisonment, assault, and battery. False imprisonment requires the plaintiff to show you confined them without legal authority and without consent. If the arrest did not satisfy Indiana Code 35-33-1-4, you had no authority, and the person obviously did not consent.
Damages can include compensation for physical injuries, emotional distress, lost wages, and in egregious cases, punitive damages. Acting in good faith is not a defense to false imprisonment when the statutory criteria were not met. Legal fees to defend a civil case are substantial on their own, and homeowner’s insurance policies commonly exclude intentional acts, so the money comes out of your pocket.
A Safer Approach When You Witness a Crime
The legal authority exists. Using it is another matter. Most people who get in trouble acted on suspicion rather than knowledge — they did not actually see the felony and did not have concrete facts establishing probable cause, and a prosecutor and jury will second-guess that call with full hindsight.
If you witness a crime, call 911 first. Be a good witness: note appearance, direction of travel, vehicle description, and license plate. If someone poses an active danger to others and you choose to intervene physically, use the minimum force necessary and hand the person to police the instant they arrive. Do not question them, do not search them, and do not move them somewhere else. Each of those steps adds legal exposure without adding any real benefit.
The statute gives you a right to act. It does not give you the training, the equipment, or the legal protections officers have. Police get qualified immunity for reasonable mistakes. You do not. A citizen’s arrest belongs in the category of last resort when lives are in danger and police are not yet there — not property crimes, not neighborhood disputes, and not situations where calling 911 and staying safe would accomplish the same result.