H. B. 2366
(By Delegates Miley, Fragale and Iaquinta)
[Introduced February 13, 2009; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-5-17 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to fleeing from a law-enforcement
officer; and providing felony penalties for certain persons
convicted of fleeing a law-enforcement officer.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-5-17 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC JUSTICE.
§61-5-17. Obstructing officer; fleeing from officer; making false
statement to officer; penalties; definitions.
(a) Any person who by threats, menaces, acts or otherwise,
forcibly or illegally hinders or obstructs, or attempts to hinder
or obstruct, any law-enforcement officer, probation officer or
parole officer acting in his or her official capacity is guilty of
a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than $500 or confined in
the county or regional
jail not more than one year, or both.
(b) Any person who intentionally disarms or attempts to disarm
any law-enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity,
is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
imprisoned in
the a state correctional facility not less than one
nor more than five years.
(c) Any person who, with intent to impede or obstruct a
law-enforcement officer in the conduct of an investigation of a
felony offense, knowingly and willfully makes a materially false
statement, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined not less than $25 and not more than $200, or
confined in
the county or regional jail for five days, or both.
Provided, That the provisions of However, this section shall not
apply to statements made by a spouse, parent, stepparent,
grandparent, sibling, half-sibling, child, stepchild or grandchild,
whether related by blood or marriage, of the person under
investigation. Statements made by the person under investigation
may not be used
as the basis for prosecution under this subsection.
For the purposes of Under this subsection, "law-enforcement
officer" shall not include watchman, State Police or college
security personnel.
(d) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee by
any means other than the use of a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer, probation officer or parole officer acting in his or her
official capacity who is attempting to make a lawful arrest of the
person, and who knows or reasonably believes that the officer is
attempting to arrest him or her, is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $50 nor more
than $500 or confined in
the county or regional jail not more than
one year, or both.
(e) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in
a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer, probation officer or
parole officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the
officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the
person to stop, is guilty of a
misdemeanor felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $500 nor more than
$1,000, and shall be
confined in the county or regional jail not
more than one year imprisoned in a state correctional facility not
less than one nor more than five years.
(f) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in
a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer, probation officer or
parole officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the
officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the
person to stop, and who causes damage to the real or personal
property of any person during or resulting from his or her flight,
is guilty of a
misdemeanor felony and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined not less than $1,000 nor more than $3,000, and shall be
confined in the county or regional jail for not less than six
months nor more than one year imprisoned in a state correctional
facility not less than two nor more than ten years.
(g) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in
a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer, probation officer or
parole officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the
officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the
person to stop, and who causes bodily injury to any person during
or resulting from his or her flight, is guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state
correctional facility not less than one nor more than five years.
(h) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in
a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer, probation officer or
parole officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the
officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the
person to stop, and who causes death to any person during or
resulting from his or her flight, is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished by a definite term of
imprisonment in a state correctional facility which is not less
than three nor more than fifteen years. A person imprisoned
pursuant to
the provisions of this subsection is not eligible for
parole prior to having served a minimum of three years of his or
her sentence or the minimum period required by
the provisions of
section thirteen, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of this code, whichever is greater.
(i) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in
a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer, probation officer or
parole officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the
officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the
person to stop, and who is under the influence of alcohol,
controlled substances or drugs at the time, is guilty of a felony
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state
correctional facility not less than one nor more than five years.
(j) For purposes of this section, the term "vehicle" includes
any motor vehicle, motorcycle, motorboat, all-terrain vehicle or
snowmobile, as those terms are defined in section one, article one,
chapter seventeen-a of this code, whether or not it is being
operated on a public highway at the time and whether or not it is
licensed by the state.
(k) For purposes of this section, the terms "flee," "fleeing"
and "flight" do not include any person's reasonable attempt to
travel to a safe place, allowing the pursuing law-enforcement
officer to maintain appropriate surveillance, for the purpose of
complying with the officer's direction to stop.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for a felony
offense for certain persons convicted of fleeing a law-enforcement
officer.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.