Florida Senate - 2024 SB 722 By Senator Collins 14-01357A-24 2024722__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to fleeing or attempting to elude a 3 law enforcement officer; amending s. 316.1935, F.S.; 4 providing mandatory minimum sentences for violations; 5 providing for pretrial diversion for first-time 6 offenders; conforming provisions to changes made by 7 the act; providing an effective date. 8 9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 10 11 Section 1. Subsections (5), (6), and (7) of section 12 316.1935, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (7), 13 (8), and (9), respectively, subsections (3) and (4) of that 14 section are amended, new subsections (5) and (6) are added to 15 that section, and subsections (1) and (2) of that section are 16 republished, to read: 17 316.1935 Fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement 18 officer; aggravated fleeing or eluding.— 19 (1) It is unlawful for the operator of any vehicle, having 20 knowledge that he or she has been ordered to stop such vehicle 21 by a duly authorized law enforcement officer, willfully to 22 refuse or fail to stop the vehicle in compliance with such order 23 or, having stopped in knowing compliance with such order, 24 willfully to flee in an attempt to elude the officer, and a 25 person who violates this subsection commits a felony of the 26 third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, 27 or s. 775.084. 28 (2) Any person who willfully flees or attempts to elude a 29 law enforcement officer in an authorized law enforcement patrol 30 vehicle, with agency insignia and other jurisdictional markings 31 prominently displayed on the vehicle, with siren and lights 32 activated commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as 33 provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 34 (3) Any person who willfully flees or attempts to elude a 35 law enforcement officer in an authorized law enforcement patrol 36 vehicle, with agency insignia and other jurisdictional markings 37 prominently displayed on the vehicle, with siren and lights 38 activated, and during the course of the fleeing or attempted 39 eluding: 40 (a) Drives at high speed, or in any manner which 41 demonstrates a wanton disregard for the safety of persons or 42 property, commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as 43 provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 44 (b) Drives at high speed, or in any manner which 45 demonstrates a wanton disregard for the safety of persons or 46 property, and causes serious bodily injury or death to another 47 person, including any law enforcement officer involved in 48 pursuing or otherwise attempting to effect a stop of the 49 person’s vehicle, commits a felony of the first degree, 50 punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 51 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court shall 52 sentence any person convicted of committing the offense 53 described in this paragraph to a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 54 years imprisonment in addition to the mandatory minimum sentence 55 provided under subsection (5).Nothing inThis paragraph does 56 notshallprevent a court from imposing a greater sentence of 57 incarceration as authorized by law. 58 (4) Any person who, in the course of unlawfully leaving or 59 attempting to leave the scene of a crash in violation of s. 60 316.027 or s. 316.061, having knowledge of an order to stop by a 61 duly authorized law enforcement officer, willfully refuses or 62 fails to stop in compliance with such an order, or having 63 stopped in knowing compliance with such order, willfully flees 64 in an attempt to elude such officer and, as a result of such 65 fleeing or eluding: 66 (a) Causes injury to another person or causes damage to any 67 property belonging to another person, commits aggravated fleeing 68 or eluding, a felony of the second degree, punishable as 69 provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 70 (b) Causes serious bodily injury or death to another 71 person, including any law enforcement officer involved in 72 pursuing or otherwise attempting to effect a stop of the 73 person’s vehicle, commits aggravated fleeing or eluding with 74 serious bodily injury or death, a felony of the first degree, 75 punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 76 77 The felony of aggravated fleeing or eluding and the felony of 78 aggravated fleeing or eluding with serious bodily injury or 79 death constitute separate offenses for which a person may be 80 charged, in addition to the offenses under ss. 316.027 and 81 316.061, relating to unlawfully leaving the scene of a crash, 82 which the person had been in the course of committing or 83 attempting to commit when the order to stop was given. 84 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court shall 85 sentence any person convicted of committing aggravated fleeing 86 or eluding with serious bodily injury or death to a mandatory 87 minimum sentence of 3 years imprisonment in addition to the 88 mandatory minimum sentence provided under subsection (5). 89Nothing inThis subsection does notshallprevent a court from 90 imposing a greater sentence of incarceration as authorized by 91 law. 92 (5) A person convicted of a violation of subsection (1), 93 subsection (2), subsection (3), or subsection (4) shall: 94 (a) For a first offense, be sentenced to a mandatory 95 minimum sentence of 364 days’ imprisonment. 96 (b) For a second offense, be sentenced to a mandatory 97 minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment. 98 (c) For a third or subsequent offense, be sentenced to a 99 mandatory minimum sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment. 100 (6) In lieu of a criminal conviction under this section, a 101 judge has the option for a first-time offender to order a 102 pretrial diversion program under which, at a minimum, any 103 vehicle owned by the offender shall be impounded for 30 days and 104 the offender’s driver license suspended for 6 months. 105 Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2024.