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Monday, April 23, 2007

Vermont Bill Addresses Assault on EMS Personnel

H.142, introduced by Reps. Masland of Thetford, Botzow of Pownel, McCullough of Williston, and Shand of Weathersfield, seeks to enhance the penalties for acts related to assaults on PD, PD, or EMS members. I include the bill as introduced below:
:
Subject: Crimes; assault on emergency medical personnel
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to provide enhanced criminal penalties for assaulting emergency medical personnel.
AN ACT RELATING TO ASSAULTS ON EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
Sec. 1.
13 V.S.A. § 1028 is amended to read:
§ 1028. ASSAULT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, FIREFIGHTER,
OR EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL member
A person convicted of a simple or aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer or, firefighter, or member of emergency services personnel as defined in subdivision 2651(6) of Title 24 while the officer or, firefighter, or emergency medical personnel member is performing a lawful duty, in addition to any other penalties imposed under sections 1023 and 1024 of this title, shall:
(1) For the first offense, be imprisoned not more than one year;
(2) For the second offense and subsequent offenses, be imprisoned not more than ten years.


How do I feel about this? Obviously I am against getting assaulted, but I'm not sure that increasing the penalty will make much of a difference. It can't hurt. I think that those that are going to fight police and or firefighters are likely to take a swing at me or my colleagues even as we attempt to render aid. I will be writing my legislatures in support of this, anyone else feel like writing theirs?

2 comments:

Jamie Davis, the Podmedic said...

Dan,

I have to say that I agree with your statement that I don't think increasing the penalty will do much to deter someone who is already inclined to take a swing at an EMS provider. The most important statement I would make would be that it is important for us as providers in the field to be ever vigilant of the circustances in which we find ourselves. The best defence is to avoid the situation in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Yep comes down to the basics....Scene Safety. Of course you never know when things can take a turn for the wrost, but trying to avoid a potentially dangerous situation is always a good thing!