Kayakers should not have ignored a park ranger’s instructions to wear life jackets, the Utah Supreme Court ruled.

Joshua Nelson and his friends were kayaking on the Provo River during a celebration of Pioneer Day in Utah. They were not wearing life jackets.

Park ranger Drew Patterson told them to get out of the river or go to jail. They continued their trip down the river.

Patterson said, “Hey you three right here . . . Get out of the water right now. Your last chance before you go to jail . . . You want to go to jail? . . . You want to avoid a police order, the next stop is going to jail . . . Hey, you’ve been warned, guys.”

When Patterson finally caught up to Nelson and his friends, he accused them of hiding behind some bushes. They denied it and said they were drinking beer and picking up trash.

Nelson and his friends were taken into custody. He was convicted of failure to stop at the command of a peace officer.

On appeal, Nelson argued that the evidence did not show that he had fled or tried to avoid arrest. The court of appeals agreed, since the penalty for the infraction is a $150 fine, not a jail sentence.

It also agreed with Nelson that his counsel was ineffective for failing to move for a directed verdict.

The state referred the case to the Utah Supreme Court, which overturned the appeals court’s decision and agreed with the state’s definition of an “arrest.”

“We agree that the ordinary meaning of ‘arrest’ means a custodial arrest, i.e., a peace officer taking someone into custody,” Justice John Nielsen wrote.

“Reasonable counsel could have concluded that there was a basis for the jury to find that Nelson fled with the purpose of avoiding arrest (under the ordinary meaning of that term), because there was in fact that basis,” he added. “Given this, a directed verdict motion on the basis Nelson asserts would have been futile.”

He remanded the case to the court of appeals to determine whether Nelson’s counsel was ineffective regarding whether Nelson intended to flee.