Identifying yourself is one of the few things you are legally required to do. Giving a real person's name instead can escalate a ticket warrant into a felony.
Identifying yourself is one of the few things you are legally obligated to do during a police encounter. The right to remain silent does not cover your name, address, and date of birth after a lawful arrest.
It becomes dangerous when someone with an outstanding warrant gives a fictitious name to avoid being taken into custody. That is failure to identify. It gets worse if they give a real person's name and date of birth, such as a sibling's, because that can become fraudulent use of identifying information, a felony. The firm has handled cases where someone tried to avoid arrest on a traffic ticket warrant and ended up facing a felony because they used a relative's information.
Citation: Texas Penal Code §38.02
Degree and classification: Class C misdemeanor for refusing to give a name after lawful arrest; Class B misdemeanor for giving false information, enhanced if the person is a fugitive from justice.
Statutory language: A person commits an offense if he intentionally refuses to give his name, residence address, or date of birth to a peace officer who has lawfully arrested the person, or intentionally gives false or fictitious information.
Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Every case is decided on its own facts.