§ 265-A — Defense of lawful detention

§ 265-a. Defense of lawful detention. In any action for false arrest,\nfalse imprisonment, unlawful detention, defamation of character,\nassault, trespass or invasion of civil rights brought by any person by\nreason of having been detained on or in the immediate vicinity of the\npremises of a public library or association library for the purpose of\ninvestigation or questioning as to the ownership of any materials, it\nshall be a defense to such action that the person was detained in a\nreasonable manner and for not more than a reasonable time to permit such\ninvestigation or questioning by a peace officer or by the librarian in\ncharge, his or her authorized employee or agent, and that such peace\nofficer, librarian, employee or agent has reasonable grounds to believe\nthat the person so detained was committing or attempting to commit\nlarceny on such premises of such materials. As used in this section,\n"reasonable grounds" shall include, but not be limited to, knowledge\nthat a person has concealed, unauthorized possession of material owned\nor belonging to the public library or association library, and a\n"reasonable time" shall mean the time necessary to permit the person\ndetained to make a statement or to refuse to make a statement, and the\ntime necessary to examine employees and records of the public library or\nassociation library relative to the ownership of the materials.\n