§ 218. 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) a retail mercantile establishment for the purpose of\ninvestigation or questioning as to criminal possession of an\nanti-security item as defined in section 170.47 of the penal law or as\nto the ownership of any merchandise, or (b) a motion picture theater for\nthe purposes of investigation or questioning as to the unauthorized\noperation of a recording device in a motion picture theater, it shall be\na defense to such action that the person was detained in a reasonable\nmanner and for not more than a reasonable time to permit such\ninvestigation or questioning by a peace officer acting pursuant to his\nspecial duties, police officer or by the owner of the retail mercantile\nestablishment or motion picture theater, his authorized employee or\nagent, and that such officer, owner, employee or agent had reasonable\ngrounds to believe that the person so detained was guilty of criminal\npossession of an anti-security item as defined in section 170.47 of the\npenal law or was committing or attempting to commit larceny on such\npremises of such merchandise or was engaged in the unauthorized\noperation of a recording device in a motion picture theater. As used in\nthis section, "reasonable grounds" shall include, but not be limited to,\nknowledge that a person (i) has concealed possession of unpurchased\nmerchandise of a retail mercantile establishment, or (ii) has possession\nof an item designed for the purpose of overcoming detection of security\nmarkings attachments placed on merchandise offered for sale at such an\nestablishment, or (iii) has possession of a recording device in a\ntheater in which a motion picture is being exhibited and a "reasonable\ntime" shall mean the time necessary to permit the person detained to\nmake a statement or to refuse to make a statement, and the time\nnecessary to examine employees and records of the mercantile\nestablishment relative to the ownership of the merchandise, or\npossession of such an item or device. Such detention at such vicinity\nshall not authorize the taking of such person's fingerprints at such\nvicinity unless the taking of fingerprints is otherwise authorized by\nsection 160.10 of the criminal procedure law and are taken by the\narresting or other appropriate police officer or agency described\ntherein in accordance with section 140.20 or 140.27 of such law.\nWhenever fingerprints are taken, the requirements of article one hundred\nsixty of the criminal procedure law shall apply as if fully set forth\nherein.\n
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