Relates to the assault of certain public agents during the performance of their duties

BILL NUMBER:S4216

Title of bill

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the assault of certain public agents during the performance of their duties

Summary of specific provisions

This bill would amend three provisions of the Penal Law.

Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision three of section 120.05 to reform the intent required to establish second degree assault upon certain public officers, including EMTs and paramedics. Currently, to establish guilt a prosecutor must prove that an attacker intends to interfere with the performance of the duties of these public officers. The proposed change would make this subdivision consistent with other second degree assault provisions of the Penal Law by requiring simply that the attacker intends to cause physical injury upon such public officer with knowledge that the public officer is engaged in the line of duty. This bill would also broaden the scope of the physical assaults that could be prosecuted under this subdivision to include assaults such as punching and hitting.

Section 2 of the bill creates a new section of the Penal law, section 120.75, to create the crime of "reckless assault" upon an emergency medical service paramedic or emergency medical service technician, an E felony. This section also broadens the scope of the physical assaults that could be prosecuted to include assaults such as punching and hitting.

Section 3 of the bill amends paragraph d of subdivision 1 of Section 70.02 of the penal law to include reckless assault upon an emergency medical service paramedic or emergency medical service technician as an E felony.

Section 4 of the bill makes the new provisions of the bill effective upon passage.

Justification

The existing second degree assault provisions of the Penal law that pertain to assaults upon public officers, including EMTs and paramedics, are inadequate in that they contain problematic provisions requiring the prosecution to establish an assailant's intent to interfere with the performance of official duties, rather than mere intent to injure, as is typically required in second degree assault. In addition, the most common assaults, such as punching, hitting, and other assaults, frequently go unprosecuted because the injuries, while painful, do not qualify as "physical injury" under existing case law because they do not result in "impairment of physical condition or substantial pain." To adequately remedy these offenses and effectively deter such assaults, the intent requirement of the current law needs reform, as does the degree of the physical injury sustained.

Section 2 is to be named "Soler's Law" in honor of Teresa Soler, an EMT who was brutally assaulted by an individual who claimed he was so intoxicated that he did not "intend" to assault Ms. Soler. Many EMTs and paramedics are assaulted while treating intoxicated or severely

drug impaired persons, and existing law does not adequately address these serious crimes. Presently, there is no provision in the law specifically addressing reckless assaults upon an EMT or paramedic, despite the fact that assaults by severely intoxicated or drug impaired persons are extremely common. EMTs and Paramedics are required to treat patients under extremely dangerous and stressful situations, and deserve the fullest protections of the law for reckless assaults they endure in the line of duty.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:New for 2013

Effective date

Immediately