Aggravated Fleeing
The Missouri General Assembly has passed a new tough law dealing with what is called aggravated fleeing. It is called Valentine’s law. Instead of calling it resisting arrest it is called aggravated fleeing. It carries some tough penalties. It is similar to resisting arrest.
It addresses the situation when the police try to stop or detain a motor vehicle. If the police are attempting to stop a car for any reason and that vehicle drives away at a high speed, the driver is in jeopardy of spending a year in jail at a minimum.
Class D Felony
The offense is a class D felony if the driver operates a motor vehicle at a high speed or in any manner which creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury or death to any person. That means it is then up to the police officer to determine what a high speed is. It seems rather subjective to me. It also leaves the question up to the police officer if he or she thinks the driver was creating a “substantial risk” of death or serious physical injury. A class D felony carries up to seven years in the Department of Corrections.
Class B Felony
The aggravated fleeing penalty goes up if as a result of such flight causes physical injury to another person. In that case the offense of aggravated fleeing becomes a Class B felony. A Class B felony carries from 5 to 15 years in the Department of Corrections.
Class A Felony
The offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention becomes a Class A felony if as a result of such flight causes death to another person. The penalty for a Class A felony is 10 to 30 years or life in the Department of Corrections.
I have had a number of clients charged with this crime recently. It went into effect in August of 2024. I am seeing the police use it more often on what used to be simple resisting arrest situations.
With today’s technology fleeing from the police in your motor vehicle is generally not going to be successful. Is it worth a year of your life to take that chance? I think not. If you get arrested for aggravated fleeing, I can help you.
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