HB4618 S JUD AM #1
Smith 7883
The Committee on the Judiciary moved to amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
ARTICLE 6. CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.
§61-6-1. Suppression of riots and unlawful assemblages.
All members of the Department
of Public Safety West Virginia State Police, the Division of Protective
Services, all sheriffs within their respective counties and all mayors
within their respective jurisdiction, may suppress riots, routs and unlawful
assemblages. It shall be the duty of each of them to go among, or as near as
may be with safety, to persons riotously, tumultuously, or unlawfully
assembled, and in the name of the law command them to disperse; and if they
shall not thereupon immediately and peaceably disperse, such member of the Department
of Public Safety West Virginia State Police, or of the Division of
Protective Services, sheriff or mayor giving the command, and any other
present, shall command the assistance of all persons present, and of all or any
part of other law-enforcement personnel available to him or her, as need
be, in arresting and securing those so assembled. If any person present, on
being required to give his or her assistance, depart, or fail to obey,
he or she shall be deemed a rioter.
§61-6-1a. Control of riots and unlawful assemblages.
Members of the Department
of Public Safety West Virginia
State Police, the Division of
Protective Services, sheriffs
and mayors, and those acting under their order, may, when engaged in
suppressing a riot, rout or unlawful assemblage, cordon off any area or areas
threatened by such riot, rout or unlawful assemblage, and may take all actions
which are necessary and reasonable under the emergency to restore law and
order, and such actions may be, but are not limited to, the following:
(a) Prohibit the sale, offering for sale, dispensing, furnishing, or transportation of firearms or other dangerous weapons, ammunition, dynamite, or other dangerous explosives in, to or from such areas.
(b) Prohibit the sale, offering for sale, dispensing, furnishing, or consumption of alcoholic beverages or nonintoxicating beer in a public place in such areas, and prohibit the transportation of alcoholic beverages or nonintoxicating beer in, to, or from such areas.
(c) Impose curfews, as required, to control movement of persons in, to, and from such areas.
(d) Enter a private dwelling or other building or other private place in such areas when in fresh pursuit of a rioter, when in search of a sniper who has fired upon a person from such a dwelling or other building or place or when in search of firearms, other dangerous weapons, ammunition, dynamite, or other dangerous explosives when there is reason to believe that such items are stored in the said dwelling, building, or place and that they will be removed therefrom before a search warrant could be obtained.
No person shall willfully fail to obey a lawful order of
any mayor, sheriff, deputy sheriff, municipal police officer, member of the Department of Public Safety West Virginia State Police, or the Division of
Protective Services, or other officer, given pursuant to this
section.
Any person who violates an order given pursuant to the authority of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $500, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned.
§61-6-3. Failure of member of department of public
safety West Virginia State Police officer,
officer of the Division of Protective Services,
mayor, or sheriff to exercise powers at riots and unlawful assemblages;
penalty.
If any member of the Department
of Public Safety West Virginia
State Police, the Division of Protective Services, sheriff, or mayor
have notice of a riotous, tumultuous, or unlawful assemblage in his or her
respective jurisdiction as provided in section one of this article, and fail to
proceed immediately to the place of such assemblage, or as near as he or she
may safely go, or fail to exercise his or her authority for suppressing
it and arresting the offenders, he or she shall be fined not to exceed
$100.
§61-6-4. Summoning of persons to aid in suppressing riots and unlawful assemblages.
If any person engaged in such assemblage, being commanded,
as hereinbefore provided, to disperse or to peaceably leave the scene of such
assemblage, fail to do so without delay, any such member of the Department of Public Safety West Virginia State Police, the Division of
Protective Services, sheriff or mayor may require the aid of a
sufficient number of persons, in arms or otherwise, and proceed, in such manner
as he or she may deem expedient, to disperse and suppress such
assemblage, and arrest and secure those engaged in it.
§61-6-5. Death of person in suppression of riots and unlawful assemblages.
If, by any means taken under the authority of this article
to disperse any such assemblage or arrest those engaged in it, any person
present, as spectator or otherwise, be killed or wounded, and neither malice,
nor premeditation be present, any member of the Department
of Public Safety West Virginia
State Police, the Division of Protective Services, sheriff, or mayor
exercising such authority, and everyone acting under his or her order,
shall be held guiltless.; and if the member of the Department of Public Safety sheriff or mayor,
or any person acting under the order of either of them, be killed or wounded in
taking such means, or by the rioters, all persons engaged in such assemblage
shall be deemed guilty of such killing or wounding.
Adopted
Rejected