Q: Can you be charged with obstruction if an officer puts their foot in your home door and you close it to go get your ID?
There was a complaint against me for following who I didn’t know was a minor in my neighborhood to find out where they live so the HOA (I was the VP of the board) can issue a violation because they continuously let their dog poop on lawns in the subdivision. It was posted on our community board to clean up after their dog, it’s on our website and I have a sign in my yard to not let dogs poop on my grass. I went in my house with the door close the first time to show the officer the ring video but the second time she told me to keep the door open and I didn’t. I didn’t invite her in. I was taken in handcuffs to jail where I was written a ticket and released on my own a few hours later.
A:
Can you be charged? Sure. Your situation proved that much. It's also probably enough for a conviction too; obstruction can be proven by showing that an individual willfully ignored a lawful order given by an officer in the course of their conducting of an investigation. Sounds like that's what happened in this case.
The request to leave a door open like this is not arbitrary; they do it for their own safety. Specifically, they are concerned that a suspect (you, in this case) may decide to go back into the house and retrieve a weapon, and then return to ambush them with it. It happens on occasion. By leaving the door open, it gives them the opportunity to maintain some semblance of a vantage point, and allows them a bit more of an opportunity to identify a threat as it approaches--as opposed to being suddenly surprised and caught off-guard the moment the door opens again.
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