Relates to assault in the second degree on an emergency medical service paramedic or emergency medical service technician.

BILL NUMBER:S4839 REVISED 5/5/15

Title of bill

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to assault in the second degree on an emergency medical service paramedic, or emergency medical service technician

Purpose

To accord stronger protection for emergency medical service paramedics and technicians, who, while performing their assigned duties, are attacked by individuals who intend to cause bodily injury to these public servants.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of this bill amends subdivision 11 of section 120.05 of the Penal Law, assault in the second degree, to include emergency medical service paramedics and technicians among those professionals against whom an assault with the intent to cause physical injury resulting in on-duty physical injury is a class D violent felony offense

Section 2 establishes the effective date.

Existing law

Currently, a person is guilty of the offense of assault in the second degree on an emergency medical service paramedic or emergency medical service technician when her or she, with the intent to obstruct the emergency medical service paramedic or emergency medical service technician from performing an official duty injures the emergency medical service paramedic or emergency medical service technician.

Justification

Many professionals who are dedicated to protecting and aiding the public, including sanitation enforcement agents, school crossing guards, prosecutors, registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses, among others, currently receive felony-level protection under section 120.05 of the penal law (assault in the second degree) from two types of unarmed assaults: an assault with the intent to prevent the professional from performing a lawful duty and which results in physical injury to the professional (subdivision (3) of section 120.05 of the penal law), and an assault with the intent to cause physical injury to the professional and which results in such injury to the professional while he or she is performing an assigned duty (subdivision (11) of section 120.05 of the penal law).

There have been occasions where the evidence of an assailant's intent to injure one of the professionals listed above is very strong, but the evidence of a specific intent to prevent that professional from performing an assigned duty is much weaker. In these cases, the People will charge the perpetrator under subdivision (11) of section 120.05 of the penal law, instead of under subdivision (3).

Emergency medical service paramedics and technicians are required to treat patients under extremely dangerous and stressful conditions, and deliberate, violent attacks against these public servants are, sadly, not uncommon. Currently EMS paramedics and technicians are included under subdivision (3) of section 120.05 of the penal law; however, unlike the varied public servants and professionals discussed above, they are not currently covered under subdivision (11). The omission is not only unfair to these dedicated professionals whom society should

seek to protect no less than the other groups encompassed in subdivision (11), but also the omission means that certain offenders who aim to hurt these paramedics and EMTs may escape the kind of punishment that their intentional violent and injurious conduct warrants.

This bill, by including EMS paramedics and EMTs under subdivision (11) of 120.05 of the penal law, rectifies this inequity and ensures that, in those cases in which there is proof that an individual intended to injure one of these professionals while the professional was on duty, that perpetrator can be prosecuted as a felon.

Legislative history

New bill

Fiscal implications

None to the State

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law and shall apply to convictions entered on or after such date.