31st July 2010, 12:01 AM
I'll add that such a citizen's arrest could have gone badly. There's a small jump from citizen's arrest to vigilante justice. I don't think they made that jump in this case, but it's worth considering.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)