MovieChat Forums > Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) Discussion > Why did Murtaugh want to take Arjen aliv...

Why did Murtaugh want to take Arjen alive at the end, when he has DI?

posted 8 years ago by RynoII
6 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER

Maybe I missed something in the movie, but Riggs and Murtaugh could not arrest Arjen or his men cause they had diplomatic immunity.

So after being fed up with it, Riggs and Murtaugh decide to go kill every one of them while they have the opportunity, especially since they are all in the same place at the same time.

But then after they kill all of them, accept for Arjen, Murtaugh decides he wants to take Arjen alive. Why?

He will just get off with DI, and Roger's arrest will be considered illegal. So why doesn't Roger just kill Arjen without any warning, just like did for the rest of them?

[–] P-K-One 8 years ago

That is not actually how diplomatic immunity works.

Somebody who has diplomatic immunity can not be trialed. But they can be arrested. If there is clear evidence that they have committed a crime or a police officer catches them while they are committing a crime they can be arrested and then either "asked" to leave by the state department (which is a nice way of saying "banished" from the country) or they would be recalled by their own government. In extreme cases the home country of the diplomats can even waive their diplomatic immunity which would mean that they could be put on trial.

So if Murthaugh arrested Arjen red handed surrounded by evidence that arrest would be completely legal and there would be at least some chance that he would be put on trial.

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

Well it seems the only evidence Murtaugh had that was solid enough was the money in the containers if I remember correct.

However, Murtaugh came onto foreign territory and killed all of them without any legal authorization. Murtaugh came onto their land and technically fired first, before attempting to arrest Arjen.

So if Murtaugh had evidence it would still be illegally obtained evidence. Can you banish a country based on illegally obtained evidence? Or would the home country waive the diplomats rights based on illegally obtained evidence? Or would they tell the U.S. that the evidence was obtained illegally and they will not be waiving the immunity therefore?

[–] P-K-One 8 years ago

In reality, South Africa would probably recall Arjen but not waive his immunity. The reason would be simple PR. After something like this, leaving him in the country would be a PR nightmare but allowing a process against him would just shine a light on his criminal activity.

However, the illegality of the actions of Riggs and Murthaugh are not that clear.

Riggs was abducted and they attempted to murder him. When he managed to free himself he was in hot pursuit of the people who had attacked him. And while in pursuit diplomatic immunity is irrelevant. During his pursuit he checked a container that may or may not have been marked as diplomatic freight (nobody told him it was, right? And the container was on US soil.). When they checked the container, Arjen and his men moved the container onto the ship. Riggs and Murthough did not enter the ship out of their own free will. And finally, on the ship they were attacked and acted in selfdefense.
The only thing that was illegal was that Riggs and Murthough went to the harbor with the intention to kill them all...but nobody can prove that.

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

Riggs and Murtaugh did go without calling for back up at all though, so wouldn't that raise a lot of red flags to Rigg's hot pursuit when he doesn't even tell anyone about it?

And before going onto South African land, Riggs and Murtaugh kill the two guys before going into the container, as it shows them dragging away their dead bodies it looks like.

[–] NicksSciFiCorner 8 years ago

Just rewatched the movie and it seemed pretty clear to me that Murtaugh put a bullet into Arjen's head after the South African diplomat from above shot up Riggs who was down in the cargo hold of the Alba Varden.

There was no planning on taking Arjen in. Murtaugh put the SOB down with his customary crick of his neck sharp-shooting technique.

[–] oldgoatee 8 years ago

The only witnesses to Aryan Crud's claim of diplomatic immunity were Murtaugh and a semiconscious Riggs. A law enforcement officer actually, in this case, in fear of his life can use deadly force