There is no general right to resist an arrest by a law enforcement officer in Tennessee even if that arrest is illegal. The Tennessee Legislature has stated (and I believe correctly so) that the street is no place for determining the legality of an arrest. If a person knows it is a law enforcement officer who has stopped or arrested him, respect for the rule of law requires the submission to apparent authority. (See T.C.A. 39-16-602) Oh, but there is always an unless….
UNLESS (1) the officer uses or attempts to use greater force than is necessary to make an arrest AND (2) the person reasonably believes that the force is immediately necessary to protect against the law enforcement officers use or attempted use of force greater than necessary. T.C.A. 39-11-611(e)
So officers when making an illegal arrest you should not use greater force than necessary in making that illegal arrest. And for those that are going to be on the receiving end of an illegal arrest remember that BOTH prongs(1&2) of T.C.A. 39-11-611(e) must be met before you have a viable defense to resisting an illegal arrest.
In an interesting side note, resisting arrest is only a class B misdemeanor (unless done with a weapon).
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