28-901 Obstructing government operations; penalty. - Nebraska Statutes

28-901. Obstructing government operations; penalty.(1) A person commits the offense of obstructing government operations if he intentionally obstructs, impairs, or perverts the administration of law or other governmental functions by force, violence, physical interference or obstacle, breach of official duty, or any other unlawful act, except that this section does not apply to flight by a person charged with crime, refusal to submit to arrest, failure to perform a legal duty other than an official duty, or any other means of avoiding compliance with law without affirmative interference with governmental functions.(2) Obstructing government operations is a Class I misdemeanor. SourceLaws 1977, LB 38, § 186.AnnotationsA defendant may not be convicted of obstructing government operations by a physical act unless the public servant was engaged in a specific authorized act at the time of the physical interference. State v. Stolen, 276 Neb. 548, 755 N.W.2d 596 (2008).The physical act component of this section consists of disjunctive, or independent, elements; force or violence is not required in all circumstances involving obstruction of government operations by physical act, partially overruling State v. Fahlk, 246 Neb. 834, 524 N.W.2d 39 (1994); State v. Stolen, 276 Neb. 548, 755 N.W.2d 596 (2008).This section proscribes three separate means of committing obstruction of government operations; the physical act component must consist of some physical interference, force, violence, or obstacle. State v. Stolen, 276 Neb. 548, 755 N.W.2d 596 (2008).Failure to volunteer information is not a physical act that violates this section. Nor are mere words, even those words deliberately intended to frustrate law enforcement, physical acts. State v. Fahlk, 246 Neb. 834, 524 N.W.2d 39 (1994).The offense must consist of physical interference or some unlawful act. State v. Douglas, 217 Neb. 199, 349 N.W.2d 870 (1984).