H. B. 4498
(By Delegates Trump, Overington,
Faircloth and Douglas)
[Introduced February 19, 1998; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article four, chapter
seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating generally to the
criminal offenses involving leaving the scene of an accident
involving a motor vehicle in which there is injury or a
death to any person.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article four, chapter seventeen-c of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. ACCIDENTS.
§17C-4-1. Accidents involving death or personal injuries.
(a) The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident
resulting in injury to or death of any person shall immediately
stop such vehicle at the scene of such accident or as close thereto as possible but shall then forthwith return to and in
every event shall remain at the scene of the accident until he
has fulfilled the requirements of section three of this article.
Every such stop shall be made without obstructing traffic more
than is necessary.
(b) Any person failing to stop or to comply with said
requirements after being involved in an accident resulting in the
death of any person under such circumstances shall is guilty of
a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than thirty days
one nor more than three years nor more than one year or by fine
of not less than one hundred thousand dollars nor more than five
thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment fined and
imprisoned. Any person failing to stop or comply with these
requirements after being involved in an accident resulting in
injury to any person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not
less than thirty days nor more than one year, or fined not less
than one hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or
both fined and imprisoned.
(c) The commissioner shall revoke the license or permit to
drive and any nonresident operating privilege of the person so
convicted.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create separate
criminal offenses involving leaving the scene of an accident that
resulted in the death or injury of any person.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.