Arbitrary Detention

TITLE:
United States vs. Hachaw
IDENTIFICATION NUMBER:
GR. No. 6909
SOURCE:CLASSIFICATION:
Arbitrary Detention
FACTS:
Hachaw is a Chinaman who were convicted of the crime of having opium. The conviction
wassolely based upon the evidences of the three witnesses of the prosecution. That while they
were on acertain street in the town of Cavite, they noticed the accused who was passing along,
acting verysuspiciously. They called him to stop, but instead of doing so, the Chinaman
started running. Theychased and overtook him and was compelled to go with them to the
presidencia
. Upon arriving, theaccused was compelled to take everything out of his pocket, and they
later saw a small amount ofopium.The accused contends that he had never used opium in any
way, and never dealt in any drug relatedtransactions. That before the arrest, he had no opium in
his pocket. That the opium found was placed inhis pocket by the witnesses.
ISSUE:
Whether or not, the arrest was lawful.
HELD:
The testimony of the witness does not show any clear reason why he (Alejo Hilario) arrested
the
Chinaman. Hilario arrested him because, as he said, I wanted to see if he had committed a
crime.
Among free men, and under constitutional and statutory guarantees of personal liberty, this
provides noreason or whatever why a person should be arrested.The judgment was reversed
and the defendant was acquitted