Under warrantless arrest standards, which condition allows an officer to arrest without a warrant for a felony?

• A. They have probable cause to believe a felony occurred.
• B. They have probable cause to believe a misdemeanor occurred.
• C. They have reasonable suspicion that a felony occurred.
• D. They have an arrest warrant.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that warrantless arrests require probable cause. For a felony, an officer may arrest someone without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe the person committed the felony. That means the officer has a trustworthy basis for concluding that a felony occurred and that the person in question was the one who committed it, even if the officer didn’t witness the crime.

Reason this best fits: merely believing a misdemeanor occurred isn’t enough to justify a warrantless arrest in most situations, because misdemeanors have stricter rules and often require the offense to be in the officer’s presence or meet specific exceptions. A mere hunch isn’t sufficient either—probable cause is higher than reasonable suspicion. And having an arrest warrant would mean the arrest is not warrantless, so it doesn’t meet the stated condition.

So, the option describing probable cause to believe a felony occurred correctly identifies the condition that allows a warrantless arrest for a felony.