Obstruction Could Lead to a Year in Jail
Video Transcribed: Hi, this is Wagoner Attorney Stuart Ericson. Today we’re going to talk about the misdemeanor crime of obstructing an officer. That is found in Title 21, which is where most of the criminal charges are, crimes are. Section 540. Again, it’s a misdemeanor. It’s punishable by up to one year in county jail with some fines.
So the elements of obstructing an officer, number one, it is an officer, and your actions have to be willful. You mean to do it. It can’t be accidental. Delay or obstruction, that you are preventing the officer in some way from doing his job or her job. So those are the elements.
Now, the statute also references filming an officer in the performance of his duties, which is allowed. We have a First Amendment right in America to do that. So now the question becomes is your filming obstructing an officer or not? And of course, that’s always going to be fact-driven. How close are you? Is there some reason that is preventing the officer from doing his duty or not? If you’re filming from afar, be hard-pressed to make that you’re interfering or obstructing.
But that’s generally the law on and the elements of misdemeanor obstructing. It’s always going to be fact-driven. You always need to know what the facts are and how they relate to that law. Was there an actual delay or an obstruction? Was it purposeful? Did you willfully do it, or was it accidental? Did you know it was an officer? Or did they have their uniform on or not? Was it obvious they were an undercover cop or an undercover? All those are fact questions. So those would always need to be determined before deciding how to proceed in the defense of an obstruction case.
So in a nutshell, that’s obstructing an officer. If you have any questions about that, reach out to me, Stuart Ericson, a criminal defense lawyer in Oklahoma, at wagonerlawyer.com.
