No person shall knowingly resist or obstruct anyone known by the person to be a peace officer, emergency medical care provider or fire fighter, whether paid or volunteer, in the performance of any act which is within the scope of the lawful duty or authority of that officer, emergency medical care provider or fire fighter, or shall knowingly resist or obstruct the service or execution by any authorized person of any civil or criminal process or order of any court. The terms “resist” and “obstruct” as used in this section do not include verbal harassment unless the verbal harassment is accompanied by a present ability and apparent intention to execute a verbal threat physically.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 719.1)