Aren't we supposed to follow an officers directions? Within reason I mean? What law is it breaking if we don't follow an officers directions? Its not resisting arrest yet, right? Failure to comply or something?
Have to dip into legalese a bit to answer that. There are detentions and then there are arrests, in both events you are not free to go until the officer says you can.
Note: Standards like reasonable suspicion and probable cause are the the same everywhere in the country. The laws discussed here (evading detention/arrest, resisting arrest/search/transportation) are specific to Texas. There are probably similar laws in other states, but there could be some very different laws as well. I think, if you act reasonable and use these as a general guideline, you shouldn't have any trouble.
Detentions are holding a person for a reasonable period of time in order to further investigate suspicions that they have committed a crime. The standard that has to be attained is that the detaining officer can articulate a set of facts that he bases that suspicion on, and any other reasonable police officer would have his/her suspicions aroused in the same way by those same set of facts. The purpose of the detention is to investigate further and either dispel the suspicion and release the person, or to confirm the suspicion and gather enough additional facts that create what is called probable cause. It is the latter standard, probable cause, that gives the officer the right to make an arrest and seek prosecution.
A traffic stop usually meets the standard of probable cause for an arrest because the officer is a direct witness to you breaking the law. But since most traffic violators are released with a citation, the courts consider them, especially in regard to searches and seizures, as detentions.
Refusing to stop is the same offense as evading arrest and you go to jail for that offense. Trying to leave before the officer releases you is also evading detention.
A detention does not automatically give the officer the right to search your person or vehicle. However, if he develops a reasonable suspicion that you might be armed, he can search you and do a limited search of your vehicle. Resisting a search is a criminal offense.
There is nothing preventing an officer from asking you to voluntarily submit to a search of your person and/or vehicle. When the weather was cold I usually would let someone put their hands in their pockets if they voluntarily submitted to a brief pat down search of the pockets to make sure they were unarmed.
During a detention you are in custody and not free to go. The officer has the right, and responsibility, to control your movements for mutual safety and liability reasons. We're not going to let you wander all around between the cars, out in traffic, or get in and out of your car whenever you feel like it. You're not going to put your hands in your pockets unless you let me check them first. You're not going to go digging around in the glove box, trunk or under the seats unless I approve it.
It's not a separate offense to refuse to obey these instructions, with the exception of running away, but don't forget that the reason you were stopped was that the officer observed you commit a criminal offense. One for which you would normally just get a citation, but one for which you
can go to jail.
