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N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-223

Resisting officers

Applied in 72 court decisions — leading case Purnell v. State (2003)

Most recently applied in Silva v. Garland (February 2022)

1889, c. 51, s. 1; Rev., s. 3700; C.S., s. 4378; 1969, c. 1224, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 136; 1994, Ex

How often courts cite this section

19791990200020102020202270
citing decisions per year

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.

(a) If any person shall willfully and unlawfully resist, delay or obstruct a public officer in discharging or attempting to discharge an official duty, the person is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.

(b) If any person shall willfully and unlawfully resist, delay, or obstruct a public officer in discharging or attempting to discharge an official duty, and the resistance, delay, or obstruction is the proximate cause of a public officer's serious injury, the person is guilty of a Class I felony.

(c) If any person shall willfully and unlawfully resist, delay, or obstruct a public officer in discharging or attempting to discharge an official duty, and the resistance, delay, or obstruction is the proximate cause of a public officer's serious bodily injury, the person is guilty of a Class F felony.

(d) "Serious bodily injury" is defined as bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death, or that causes serious permanent disfigurement, coma, a permanent or protracted condition that causes extreme pain, or permanent or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ, or that results in prolonged hospitalization.

Official source: North Carolina General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain North Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.