Fleeing a Police Officer: What is the law, what are the penalties, and what should you do?
Fleeing a Police Officer may be an unexpected charge for individuals in Texas. Imagine that you are driving home and see that the officer in the police car immediately behind you has just activated his emergency lights. You have every intention of pulling over but it’s dark, you don’t particularly trust the police, and you just want to get home safely. You don’t have any intention of running away or engaging in a high-speed chase, but you wait a few miles to pull over so you can stop at a brightly lit gas station where there are lots of people around because you just want to protect yourself.
As soon as you stop, officers draw their guns on you, make you place your hands on your head, make you back up, kneel, and arrest you.
You are understandably shaken. You never thought in a million years that this would be the result of just wanting to stop at a safe location. What you thought was the safe thing to do almost ended with you seriously hurt or worse. To make matters even more distressing, you are now charged with Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Police Officer. You make bond the next morning and ask yourself “What just happened?”.
What is the law?
Under Texas Transportation Code sec. 545.421,
“A person commits an offense if the person operates a motor vehicle and willfully fails or refuses to bring the vehicle to a stop or flees, or attempts to elude, a pursuing police vehicle when given a visual or audible signal to bring the vehicle to a stop.”
When a police officer activates his lights behind you on the road, you as a driver have the obligation to slow down, pull over into the next lane or onto the shoulder, and (if safe) stop and wait for the vehicle to either pass you or stop and engage with you (See Tex. Trans Code sect. 545.156).
The law gives police officers wide discretion about where they can choose to pull people over but does not give very much discretion to civilian drivers. Unfortunately, there is nothing mentioned in the law to tell drivers how much time or within what distance they must pull over for an officer. It is at an officer’s discretion, possibly within local police agency guidelines, when to initiate a Felony Traffic Stop (the kind described above where they draw weapons and arrest the driver) and to charge the driver with Fleeing.
What are the penalties for Fleeing a Police Officer in Texas?
Fleeing a Police Officer is a Class B Misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 180 days in the county jail and up to a $2,000 fine. This charge becomes a Class A Misdemeanor if the police believe that you engaged in reckless conduct that placed others in danger of serious bodily injury. Class A Misdemeanors carry a maximum sentence of up to 365 days in the county jail and up to a $4,000 fine.
What should I do if I have been charged with Fleeing a Police Officer in Texas?
Just because you have been charged with this offense does not mean that you have to have a conviction on your record. These cases are winnable based on the facts of each case and you might be surprised to learn what your options are. To see what your rights and options are, please contact Carter Criminal Defense for a free consultation today.