Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-104 (2026)
Obedience to police officers
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer invested by law with authority to direct, control or regulate traffic.
- (b) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
Acts 1955, ch. 329, § 4; T.C.A., § 59-804; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 113.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7
cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1999–2025 · leading case: State v. Levitt, 73 S.W.3d 159 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2001).
State v. Levitt, 73 S.W.3d 159 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2001). “Tenn.Code Ann. § 55-8-104 (1998). Although this statute may authorize a state trooper to command a motorist to stop as part of the direction or regulation of traffic, it does not authorize the trooper to request the motorist’s driver’s license, in the absence of probable cause…”
United States v. Cline, 229 F. Supp. 3d 691 (E.D. Tenn. 2017). “The defendant does not address, however, Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-104 (a), and that the defendant was rapidly backing away from Officer Pike, who had his blue lights activated [Doc.”
Ross (W.D. Tenn. 2025). “See Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-104 . Ross’s argument about Finney’s ill intent does not impact the analysis.”
Millisa Martinez, Ind., & Ex Rel Aaron Chavez v. Charles Martinez (Tenn. Ct. App. 2001). “, filed Octo ber 19, 1 995), for th e propo sition that one m ay be held liable for negligently signaling a driver to proceed.”
State v. Frank Johnson (Tenn. Crim. App. 2001). “Tennessee Code Annotated Section 55-8-104 states the following: Obedience to police officers.”
King v. Shoate (W.D. Tenn. 2023). “§ 55-8-104 . King was told multiple times to step back so that Shoate could complete the paperwork related to the traffic stop.”
State v. James A. Woods (Tenn. Crim. App. 1999). “2 Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-104 . -2- refused to produce a driver’s license, advising the officer that a search warrant was neede d.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-104(a) — 1 case
United States v. Cline, 229 F. Supp. 3d 691 (E.D. Tenn. 2017). “The defendant does not address, however, Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-104 (a), and that the defendant was rapidly backing away from Officer Pike, who had his blue lights activated [Doc.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.