(a) A sworn federal law enforcement officer, who in official capacity is authorized by law to make arrests, shall, when making an arrest in this state for a nonfederal offense, have the same legal status and immunity from suit as a state or local law enforcement officer if the arrest is made under the following circumstances:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 38-3-113

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) The officer reasonably believes that the person arrested has committed a felony in the officer’s presence or is committing a felony in the officer’s presence;
(2) The officer reasonably believes the person arrested has committed a misdemeanor that amounts to a breach of the peace in the officer’s presence or is committing such a misdemeanor in the officer’s presence; or
(3) The officer is rendering assistance to a law enforcement officer of this state in an emergency or at the request of the officer.
(b) A POST-certified law enforcement officer in this state who is employed full-time by a county, municipality, or metropolitan form of government and authorized to make arrests shall, when making an arrest in this state for a crime that was committed outside of the law enforcement officer’s jurisdiction, have the same legal status and immunity from suit as a state or local law enforcement officer making an arrest within the state or local law enforcement officer’s jurisdiction if the arrest is made under the following circumstances:

(1) The officer reasonably believes that the person arrested has committed a felony in the officer’s presence or is committing a felony in the officer’s presence;
(2) The officer reasonably believes the person arrested has committed a misdemeanor that amounts to a breach of the peace in the officer’s presence or is committing a misdemeanor that amounts to a breach of the peace in the officer’s presence; or
(3) The officer is rendering assistance to a law enforcement officer of this state in an emergency or at the request of the officer.
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