Innocent man beaten and falsely arrested for contempt of cop Free Case Evaluation Cal. Penal Code Section 647(f) – Public Intoxication, Is Misused by the Police to Falsely Arrest Innocents It is not a crime to be drunk in public. It is only a crime to be so intoxicated that one cannot care for their own safety or are a danger to themselves or others. Basically, one has to be so intoxicated that one is basically lying on the sidewalk in a puddle of one’s own vomit. If being drunk in public constituted a violation of Cal. Penal Code Section 647(f), then anyone guilty of DUI would also be guilty of violation of Section 647(f). That is not the case. Cal. Penal Code Section 647(f) provides: Who is found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor, any drug, controlled substance, toluene, or any combination of any intoxicating liquor, drug, controlled substance, or toluene, in a condition that he or she is unable to exercise care for his or her own safety or the safety of others, or by reason of his or her being under the influence of intoxicating liquor, any drug, controlled substance, toluene, or any combination of any intoxicating liquor, drug, or toluene, interferes with or obstructs or prevents the free use of any street, sidewalk, or other public way. Cal. Penal Code Section 647(g) provides: If a person has violated subdivision (f), a peace officer, if he or she is reasonably able to do so, shall place the person, or cause him or her to be placed, in civil protective custody. The person shall be taken to a facility, designated pursuant to Section 5170 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, for the 72-hour treatment and evaluation of inebriates. A peace officer may place a person in civil protective custody with that kind and degree of force that would be lawful were he or she effecting an arrest for a misdemeanor without a warrant. A person who has been placed in civil protective custody shall not thereafter be subject to any criminal prosecution or juvenile court proceeding based on the facts giving rise to this placement. This subdivision does not apply to the following persons: (1) A person who is under the influence of any drug, or under the combined influence of intoxicating liquor and any drug. (2) A person who a peace officer has probable cause to believe has committed any felony, or who has committed any misdemeanor in addition to subdivision (f). (3) A person who a peace officer in good faith believes will attempt escape or will be unreasonably difficult for medical personnel to control. If you read Section 647(f) and 647(g) together (in pari materia), one must conclude that to be publicly intoxicated enough be in violation of Cal. Penal Code Section 647(f), one also is such a chronic drunk that one is taken into “civil protective custody” under Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5170; that’s what Section 647(g) dictates. Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5170 provides: When any person is a danger to others, or to himself, or gravely disabled as a result of inebriation, a peace officer, member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of an evaluation facility designated by the county, or other person designated by the county may, upon reasonable cause, take, or cause to be taken, the person into civil protective custody and place him in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation of inebriates. Accordingly, only if you are so drunk that you qualify for a 72 hour involuntary hold in a locked hospital facility can you be guilty of When any person is a danger to others, or to himself, or gravely disabled as a result of inebriation, a peace officer, member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of an evaluation facility designated by the county, or other person designated by the county may, upon reasonable cause, take, or cause to be taken, the person into civil protective custody and place him in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation of inebriates. As mentioned above, police officers arrest innocents who are guilty of nothing other than exercising their constitutional right to verbally protest or verbally challenge police actions; “contempt of cop“. When the police arrest you 99.9999% of the time the police don’t, and will actually refused to give you a breath-alcohol or blood-alcohol test. If they did 99.9999% of the people who they arrest for violation of Section 647(f) would be instantly proven innocent. If you are being falsely charged with violation of Section 647(f) and/or otherwise for “contempt of cop”, we can help you. Jerry L. Steering Jerry L. Steering with Bob Dole, Diane Sawyer and Melvin Belli Law Office of Jerry L. Steering, 4063 Birch Street, Suite 100, Newport Beach, CA 92660; (949) 474-1849; jerrysteering@yahoo.com Free Case Evaluation