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.