Obedience to Police Officers, Flaggers, or Firefighters, RCW 46.61.015

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Washington
I am being charged with a violation of RCW 46.61.015: (1) No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any duly authorized flagger or any police officer or firefighter invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic.

Since I was a PEDESTRIAN on a SIDEWALK my question is:

since traffic is defined in RCW 46.04.590 as "Traffic" includes pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, and other conveyances either singly or together, while using any public highways for purposes of travel.

and a HIGHWAY Is defined under RCW 46.04.197 as : Highway means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.

HOW can I be charged with ANYTHING since sidewalk is not part of the highway, since sidewalk walk is defined as (RCW 46.04.540) "Sidewalk" means that property between the curb lines or the lateral lines of a roadway and the adjacent property, set aside and intended for the use of pedestrians or such portion of private property parallel and in proximity to a public highway and dedicated to use by pedestrians.

NEVER mind the fact that I never did disobey the flagger!!

I would agree, as long as you were not in traffic.

You are reading into the statute something that is not there. Nowhere in the statute does it limit enforcement of this statute to “traffic.” What it says is “No person shall…” Surely you do not argue that you fall within the definition of a “person.” The part about “direct, control, or regulate traffic” describes who must be obeyed, not who can violate. So, if a flagger, police officer, or firefighter, who is invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic, gives a lawful order, no person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply. It does not matter that you do not meet the definition of “traffic.” If a person with the authority to direct traffic gives you a lawful order, you are obligated by this statute to obey that order.

There are really no definitional or technical defenses to this one. The only real defenses are “was the order lawful?” and “did you fail or refuse to comply?” If the reasonable and truthful answer to either is “no,” then you have a defense. If the answer to both is “yes,” then there really is no defense. Now, with that in mind, you say:

Quote:

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Quoting CivilWarJournal1

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NEVER mind the fact that I never did disobey the flagger!!

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So, tell us what happened and we can offer informed opinions of whether you have a legitimate defense.

I think the error here, on the part of the OP, is that nowhere in the code does it specify traffic on a HIGHWAY. Traffic, as defined by the code can be vehicular or pedestrain, or any other mode of travel defined by law.

You're launching a defense (or argument) that you were not on a HIGHWAY, and therefore not subject to the code. WRONG. The code doesn't address highway, nor sidewalk. It addresses traffic, though not a specific location of that traffic. It could be in a parking lot, for all that matters.

Now, as to whether you did or did not disobey the flagger, we can't "rule" on that, since you didn't provide details.