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Ark. Code Ann. § 5-54-103

Resisting arrest — Refusal to submit to arrest

Applied in 20 court decisions — leading case Purnell v. State (2003)

Most recently applied in 2025 Ark. App. 579 - Tina Horton v. State of Arkansas (December 2025)

Acts 1975, No. 280, § 2803; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-2803; Acts 1987, No. 261, § 1.

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Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A person commits the offense of resisting arrest if he or she knowingly resists a person known by him or her to be a law enforcement officer effecting an arrest.

(2) As used in this subsection, “resists” means using or threatening to use physical force or any other means that creates a substantial risk of physical injury to any person.

(3) It is no defense to a prosecution under this subsection that the law enforcement officer lacked legal authority to make the arrest if the law enforcement officer was acting under color of his or her official authority.

(4) Resisting arrest is a Class A misdemeanor.

(5) A person commits the offense of refusal to submit to arrest if he or she knowingly refuses to submit to arrest by a person known by him or her to be a law enforcement officer effecting an arrest.

(6) As used in this subsection, “refuses” means active or passive refusal.

(7) It is no defense to a prosecution under this subsection that the law enforcement officer lacked legal authority to make the the arrest if the law enforcement officer was acting under color of his or her official authority.

(8) Refusal to submit to arrest is a Class B misdemeanor.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.