united-states canada police
Is illegal for a civilian to shine a light into police officer&#39;s car?
<p>Police officers often shine a light into your car or even your eyes. I find this very annoying. Their reasons of using such light is to &quot;check if there is a hazard or any other safety issues in your car&quot;. I did some research and in general, there is no relevant clause prohibiting the usage a flashlight this way.</p>
<p>My question is, in US and Canada, is it illegal for a citizen do the <strong>exactly same thing</strong> to a police officer: shine a light back at them out of your car or shine a light into their car? The reason is simple: before the officer show the police ID I cannot be sure that it is actually the real police that has been stalking me. I have to use a flashlight to examine <strong>if there is any hazard associated</strong>. The reason is safety and self-protection.</p>

<h2>The police will order you to stop and then you have to obey.</h2>
<p>The moment you annoy the police in a way that is hindering their work (such as blinding them with a flashlight), they can demand you to stop. if you don't comply, then you are committing a misdemeanor. For example, Virginia calls this <a href="https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/18.2-463/" rel="noreferrer">&quot;refusal to aid [an] officer in execution of his office&quot;</a> and it is worded so widely, that the officer asking you to shut up and you don't, then you are guilty. If the order is in any way justifiable, then you not following the order is... well, criminal.</p>
<p>Plus, if you did not comply and they pulled out their handcuffs and you <em>still</em> don't comply with their demand, you are now resisting arrest, which at least in Virginia is again, <a href="https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter10/section18.2-460/#" rel="noreferrer">a misdemeanor.</a></p>
