It’s called a “work in progress,” but the Public Safety Committee just approved legislation that would create a mandatory two-year imprisonment for “assault” on public safety, emergency medical or public transit personnel. It next goes to the Judiciary Committee, where it will be dissected. Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, who’s a police officer in real life, as opposed to whatever a job in the Legislature may be, called the committee’s bluff on H.B. 6268. “You could spit on someone and have it reported as an assault,” Witkos said before voting for it to get the bill out of committee. The Blogster can’t imagine the prison populations being reduced if this bill goes through in its current form. The bill was originally introduced by Rep. Hector Robles, D-Hartford, who was fired from his job as a local police officer for fabricating time cards.
Here’s the current language:
AN ACT IMPOSING A MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCE FOR ASSAULT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, EMERGENCY MEDICAL OR PUBLIC TRANSIT PERSONNEL.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (b) of section 53a-167c of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2010):
(b) Assault of public safety, emergency medical or public transit personnel is a class C felony and any person found guilty under this section shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of two years which may not be suspended or reduced by the court, except the court may suspend the execution of such mandatory minimum sentence if, at the time of the commission of the offense, (1) such person was under the age of eighteen years, or (2) such person’s mental capacity was significantly impaired, but not so impaired as to constitute a defense to prosecution. 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.