SCS/HCS/HBs 1692 & 1748 - This act modifies provisions relating to offenses involving arrests, stops, and detentions.RESISTING ARREST (Sections 558.019, 575.150, 610.140, & 575.200)
Under current law, certain offenses have minimum prison term requirements. This act adds the offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor vehicle.
Additionally, this act modifies the offense of resisting, interfering with, escaping, or attempting to escape from arrest, detention, stop, or custody, by adding that a person is guilty of such offense if he or she, while being held in custody after a stop, detention, or arrest, escapes or attempts to escape from such custody. Such offense shall be a class A misdemeanor, unless the stop was for:
• A felony offense;
• A warrant issued for failure to appear on a felony case;
• A warrant issued for a probation violation on a felony case;
• While resisting or escaping from a stop or arrest, the person flees and creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury or death to any person; or
• The escape or attempt to escape while in custody was for a felony;
Then it shall be a class E felony; except that, if such escape is committed by means of a deadly weapon or by holding any person hostage it is a class A felony.
Additionally, the prosecution is not required to prove the defendant knew why he or she was being stopped or arrested.
This act creates the offense of resisting arrest by fleeing in or on a motor vehicle if he or she resists an arrest, stop, or detention by fleeing in or on a motor vehicle from a law enforcement officer and, during the course of fleeing, drives at a speed or in a manner that demonstrates a disregard for the safety of any person or property. This offense is a class E felony, unless the person has been previously convicted of this offense, in which case it is a class D felony.
This act also creates the offense of aggravated resisting arrest by fleeing in or on a motor vehicle if he or she resists an arrest or stop by fleeing in or on a motor vehicle from a law enforcement officer and drives at a speed or in a manner that demonstrates a disregard for the safety of any person or property and that results in serious bodily injury or death to another person. This offense is a class D felony, unless the person has been previously convicted of this offense, in which case it is a class C felony.
Finally, under current law, certain offenses are not eligible for expungement. This act adds the offenses of resisting arrest and resisting arrest by fleeing in a motor vehicle and removes the offense of escape from custody from offenses not eligible for expungement.
These provisions are identical to provisions in HB 251 (2023) and SB 1025 (2022).
VALENTINE'S LAW (Section 575.151)
This act establishes "Valentine's Law" which creates the offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor vehicle if the person knows that a law enforcement officer is attempting to detain the vehicle and the person flees at a high speed which creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury or death or actually causes physical injury or death to another person. This shall be a class D felony if the person creates a substantial risk of injury, a class B felony is the person causes physical injury, and a class A felony if the person causes death of another.
Additionally, a person is presumed to be fleeing a vehicle stop if he or she has seen or heard or reasonably should have seen or heard emergency lights or sounds.
This act is identical to provisions in SS#2/SCS/SBs 754, et al (2024), SCS/SB 901 & 820 (2024), and similar to provisions in HB 301 (2023) and SB 345 (2021).
MARY GRACE PRINGLE