Can a Texas peace officer unarrest a person? Is there a law on the books that covers this?

It gets done from time to time, but I have found little to none as far as info on this.

Thanks.

I don't know of any "black letter" law to cite you to, but there are times, in my opinion, where a police officer could, and should, "unarrest" a person. What if a judge issues a search and arrest warrant to search a particular house and arrest a particular person living at that house for drugs? The probable cause that the person has drugs in his home (the basis of the "search" warrant) would provide probable cause that the person is violating the law (the basis of the "arrest" portion of the warrant). The officers execute the search and arrest warrant. When they enter the house they place the defendant "under arrests" and seaqrch him incident to the arrest. They find nothing. Then they search the house and find nothing. I would tell the officers to "unarrest" the defendant. I couldn't make a criminal case from those facts.

There are going to be situations where an officer has probable cause to make an arrest but,once he sorts out the facts, sees that there is insufficient evidence to support the filing of a criminal charge. In that instance, wouldn't the prudent thing to do is to "unarrest" the person? If the arrest was lawful (there was probable cause to support it) but the defendant was "denied" his trip to jail and a baloney sandwich in the drunk tank, but is released from custody at the scene and allowed to go on his way, is he going to sue? What are the damages?

In my job, this issue usually comes up when a Trooper arrests a person at the hospital following a DWI accident (with death or SBI) in order to get a blood specimen, but the suspect is injured sufficiently seriously that he needs to be admitted. So the Trooper will "unarrest" the suspect so he can be admitted for treatment, and then gets an arrest warrant when the person is released.

Janette Ansolabehere