BILL NUMBER: S9908
SPONSOR: GALLIVAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law and the criminal procedure law, in
relation to increasing the designation of certain offenses relating to
unlawfully fleeing a police officer and making such offenses eligible
for bail
 
PURPOSE OF BILL:
This bill would increase the criminal penalty for unlawful fleeing a
police officer in a motor vehicle in the 3rd, 2nd and 1st degrees to a
class E felony (up from class A misdemeanor), class D felony (up from
class E), and class C felony (up from class D), respectively. The bill
also includes "unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle"
to the provisions of law governing "qualifying offenses" for the purpose
of setting bail.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections 1 through 3 amends the penal law and reclassifies penal law
section 270.25 as an E felony, penal law section 270.30 as a D felony
and 2 70.35 as a C felony.
Sections 4, 5 and 6 amend the applicable provisions of law governing
securing orders to include the unlawful fleeing of a police car in a
motor vehicle to said provisions.
§ 7. Establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Data collected from the New York State Police and New York State Sher-
iffs Association indicates that in the previous six years, the number of
police pursuits have increased annually. For the period 2018-2019 the
average number of pursuits per year was 440 and for the years 2020-2021
the average number of pursuits per year was approximately 770. The aver-
age number of pursuits per year for 2022-2023 was 83
These pursuits often result in property damage, personal injury and
occasionally are fatal. Increasing the penalties for committing such an
act recognizes the seriousness of these offenses and making each of
these offenses eligible for bail will allow judges to remand the defend-
ants that are creating a public safety hazard by failing to comply with
the lawful actions of police officers when executing a traffic stop.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S9908: 270.25 penal law, 270.30 penal law, 270.35 penal law