The Massachusetts law against resisting arrest is found at G. L. c. 268, § 32B(a). That statute states that
A person commits the crime of resisting arrest if he knowingly prevents or attempts to prevent a police officer, acting under color of his official authority, from effecting an arrest of the actor or another…
This could be done by:
(1) using or threatening to use physical force or violence against the police officer or another; or
(2) using any other means which creates a substantial risk of causing bodily injury to such police officer or another.
The Appeals Court has ruled that to find a defendant guilty of resisting arrest prosecutors must show that
a reasonable person in the defendant’s position would have understood that the seizure was to effect an arrest…While it is not necessary to use the word “arrest” when taking a defendant into custody…”in most instances there is some form of communication between the police officer and the person.
Under this standard, “[f]leeing from, or even resisting, a stop or pat-frisk does not constitute the crime of resisting arrest.”[1]
Police officers intending to make an arrest must, therefore, “objectively communicate[] that intention to the defendant prior to, or during, the pursuit” in order “to satisfy the requirement that a defendant understand he is being arrested.”[2]
[1] Commonwealth v. Grant, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 205, 209 (2008).
[2] Id. at 209-210