General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 1094
January Session, 2015		LCO No. 5101
		*05101_______JUD*
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)

AN ACT CONCERNING ASSAULT WITH ENHANCED PENALTIES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 53a-60 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

(a) A person is guilty of assault in the second degree when: (1) With intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person; or (2) with intent to cause physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument other than by means of the discharge of a firearm; or (3) he recklessly causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument; or (4) for a purpose other than lawful medical or therapeutic treatment, he intentionally causes stupor, unconsciousness or other physical impairment or injury to another person by administering to such person, without his consent, a drug, substance or preparation capable of producing the same; or (5) he is a parolee from a correctional institution and with intent to cause physical injury to an employee or member of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, he causes physical injury to such employee or member; or (6) with intent to cause serious physical injury to another person by rendering such other person unconscious, and without provocation by such other person, he causes such injury to such other person by striking such other person on the head; or (7) with intent to cause physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person by striking or kicking such person in the head while such person is in a lying position.

(b) Assault in the second degree is a class D felony.

Sec. 2. Section 53a-167c of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

(a) A person is guilty of assault of public safety, emergency medical, public transit or health care personnel when, with intent to prevent a reasonably identifiable peace officer, special policeman appointed under section 29-18b, motor vehicle inspector designated under section 14-8 and certified pursuant to section 7-294d, firefighter or employee of an emergency medical service organization, as defined in section 53a-3, emergency room physician or nurse, health care employee as defined in section 19a-490q, employee of the Department of Correction, member or employee of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, probation officer, employee of the Judicial Branch assigned to provide pretrial secure detention and programming services to juveniles accused of the commission of a delinquent act, liquor control agent, state or municipal animal control officer, employee of the Department of Children and Families assigned to provide direct services to children and youths in the care or custody of the department, employee of a municipal police department assigned to provide security at the police department's lockup and holding facility, active individual member of a volunteer canine search and rescue team, as defined in section 5-249, or public transit employee from performing his or her duties, and while such peace officer, special policeman, motor vehicle inspector, firefighter, employee, physician, nurse, health care employee, member, liquor control agent, animal control officer, probation officer or active individual member is acting in the performance of his or her duties, (1) such person causes physical injury to such peace officer, special policeman, motor vehicle inspector, firefighter, employee, physician, nurse, member, liquor control agent, animal control officer, probation officer or active individual member, or (2) such person throws or hurls, or causes to be thrown or hurled, any rock, bottle, can or other article, object or missile of any kind capable of causing physical harm, damage or injury, at such peace officer, special policeman, motor vehicle inspector, firefighter, employee, physician, nurse, member, liquor control agent, animal control officer, probation officer or active individual member, or (3) such person uses or causes to be used any mace, tear gas or any like or similar deleterious agent against such peace officer, special policeman, motor vehicle inspector, firefighter, employee, physician, nurse, member, liquor control agent, animal control officer, probation officer or active individual member, or (4) such person throws or hurls, or causes to be thrown or hurled, any paint, dye or other like or similar staining, discoloring or coloring agent or any type of offensive or noxious liquid, agent or substance at such peace officer, special policeman, motor vehicle inspector, firefighter, employee, physician, nurse, member, liquor control agent, animal control officer, probation officer or active individual member, or (5) such person throws or hurls, or causes to be thrown or hurled, any bodily fluid including, but not limited to, urine, feces, blood or saliva at such peace officer, special policeman, motor vehicle inspector, firefighter, employee, physician, nurse, member, liquor control agent, animal control officer, probation officer or active individual member. For the purposes of this section, "public transit employee" means a person employed by the state, a political subdivision of the state, a transit district formed under chapter 103a or a person with whom the Commissioner of Transportation has contracted in accordance with section 13b-34 to provide transportation services who operates a vehicle or vessel providing public [rail service,] ferry service or fixed route bus service or performs duties directly related to the operation of such vehicle or vessel, or who, as part of the provision of public rail service, is a train operator, conductor, inspector, signal person or station agent.

(b) Assault of public safety, emergency medical, public transit or health care personnel is a class C felony. If any person who is confined in an institution or facility of the Department of Correction is sentenced to a term of imprisonment for assault of an employee of the Department of Correction under this section, such term shall run consecutively to the term for which the person was serving at the time of the assault.

(c) In any prosecution under this section involving assault of a health care employee, as defined in section 19a-490q, it shall be a defense that the defendant is a person with a disability as described in subdivision (13), (15) or (20) of section 46a-51 and the defendant's conduct was a clear and direct manifestation of the disability.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2015	53a-60
Sec. 2	October 1, 2015	53a-167c

Statement of Purpose:

To address the danger posed by blunt force trauma to the head by increasing the penalty for hitting or kicking a person in the head who is lying down and to include animal control officers and all public railroad personnel who work with the public in the list of persons covered as victims in the case of an assault as a class C felony.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]