Introduced Version
Senate Bill 372 History
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Committee Substitute (1)
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 372
(By Senators Laird, Beach, Miller, Prezioso, Unger, Stollings,
Plymale, Cann, Fitzsimmons, Jenkins and Williams)
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[Introduced February 26, 2013; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary .]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-5-17 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to creating a criminal offense for
interfering with or preventing a person from calling for
assistance of emergency service personnel; and establishing
penalties.
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
statements to officer; interfering with emergency
communications; penalties; definitions.
(a) Any A person who by threats, menaces, acts or otherwise, forcibly or illegally hinders or obstructs or attempts to hinder or
obstruct any a 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 jail not more than one
year, or both fined and confined.
(b) Any A person who intentionally disarms or attempts to
disarm any a law-enforcement officer, correctional officer,
probation officer or parole officer, acting in his or her official
capacity, 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.
(c) Any A 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 jail for five days, or both fined and confined.
However, The provisions of this section do 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 this subsection, "law-enforcement officer" does not include a watchman,
a member of the West Virginia State Police or college security
personnel who is not a certified law-enforcement officer.
(d) Any A person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee
by any means other than the use of a vehicle from any a
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 jail not more than one
year, or both.
(e) Any A person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee
in a vehicle from any a 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 and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 and
shall be confined in a regional jail not more than one year.
(f) Any A person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee
in a vehicle from any a 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 operates the vehicle in a manner showing a reckless indifference to the safety of others, is guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than
$1,000 nor more than $2,000, and shall be imprisoned in a state
correctional facility not less than one nor more than five years.
(g) Any A person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee
in a vehicle from any a 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 a person during or resulting from his or her
flight, is guilty of a misdemeanor 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.
(h) Any A person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee
in a vehicle from any a 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 a 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 three nor more than ten years.
(i) Any A person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee
in a vehicle from any a 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 a 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 for not less
than five 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.
(j) Any A person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee
in a vehicle from any a 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 three nor more than ten years.
(k) 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.
(l) For purposes of this section, the terms "flee", "fleeing"
and "flight" do not include any a 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.
(m) The revisions to subsections (e), (f), (g) and (h) of this
section enacted during the regular session of the 2010 regular
legislative session shall be known as the Jerry Alan Jones Act.
(n)(1) No person, with the intent to purposefully deprive a
person of emergency services, may interfere with or prevent a
person from using or accessing a 911 emergency telephone system or
making a report to a law-enforcement officer, to an agency, to a
fire department or from requesting emergency medical assistance.
____(2) For the purpose of this subsection, the term "interfere
with or prevent" includes, but is not limited to, seizing,
concealing, obstructing access to or disabling or disconnecting a
telephone, telephone line or equipment or other communication
device;
____(3) For the purpose of this subsection, the term "emergency
communication" means any means of communication that allows the
transmission of warnings or other information pertaining to a
crime, fire, accident, power outage, disaster or risk of injury or damage to a person or property including, but not limited to,
telephone lines, cellular telephone towers and equipment, radio
channels, railroad communication devices, electrical towers and
equipment and utility lines.
____(4) A person that violates a provision of this subsection is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
confined in jail for a period of not less than one day nor more
than one year and shall be fined not less than $250 nor more than
$2,000, or both confined and fined.
____(5) A person who is convicted of a second offense under this
subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in jail for not less than three months nor more
than one year and fined not less than $500 nor more than $3,000, or
both confined and fined.
____(6) A person who is convicted of a third or subsequent offense
under this subsection within ten years of a prior conviction of
this offense is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be confined in jail not less than six months nor
more than one year and fined not less than $500 nor more than
$4,000, or both confined and fined.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a criminal offense
for intentionally interfering with or preventing a person from
calling for the assistance of emergency service personnel and to
establish criminal penalties.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.