BILL NUMBER:  S773

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the penal law, in relation to
establishing the offenses of reckless endangerment of an emergency
service person in the first degree and reckless endangerment of an
emergency service person in the second degree

 PURPOSE :

To create the new crimes of reckless endangerment of a peace officer,
police officer, firefighter or emergency medical services professional
in the first and second degrees.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill amends the penal law by adding a new section
120.26 as it relates to creating the crime of reckless endangerment of
an emergency service person in the second degree. A person is guilty
of reckless endangerment when they knowingly alter or convert a
building that impedes egress and an emergency service person is
injured as a result. Reckless endangerment of an emergency service
person in the second degree is a class E felony.

Section 2 of the bill amends the penal law by adding a new section
120.28 as it relates to creating the crime of reckless endangerment of
an emergency service person in the first degree. A person is guilty of
              

reckless endangerment when they knowingly alter or convert a building
that impedes egress and such conduct results in the death of an
emergency service person. A person who is a repeat offender of
reckless endangerment of an emergency service person would also be
guilty. Reckless endangerment of an emergency service person in the
first degree is a class D felony.

Section 3 of the bill relates to the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Building codes exist to ensure that residents, and particularly first
responders and emergency personnel, are protected from the dangers
posed by fire and inferior construction methods. While responding to
any emergency is dangerous, this is particularly so when a building
has been illegally altered, usually to make room for more occupants.
Firefighters ems and other first responders are put at significant
risk when they enter a structure anticipating a certain layout and
instead must navigate around with walls that, don't belong, narrow
passageways, blocked entrances or exits, or other structural changes;
all while battling smoke and flames.

Far too often, these situations result in serious injury to, or even
the death of, firefighters or other emergency personnel.

This is exactly what happened on a January morning in 2005 in the
Bronx, where an apartment fire turned into a deathtrap for several
firefighters. Six New York City firefighters were forced to jump from
a fourth-floor window after they were trapped in the apartment by
illegally constructed walls. Sadly, two firefighters were killed and
several more were severely injured. While the building's owner and
former were initially convicted of criminally negligent homicide,
these convictions were overturned by a judge who ruled there was no
evidence that they knew the apartments had been illegally converted.

More recently, in 2011, firefighters in Haverstraw, Rockland County,
entered a smoke-filled single-family home and were confronted with its
illegal conversion to a rooming house. A disoriented volunteer
firefighter was running out of air and had to issue a mayday call to
his fellow firefighters, who had to use a thermal imaging device to
locate him in the home. Thankfully, he was found in time. The owner of
the home had been served with a code violation just two weeks prior to
the fire.

Illegally altered or subdivided structures can have very serious
consequences for the occupants of these structures and particularly
the first responders who might be called there in an emergency. Our
first responders provide an invaluable service in keeping us safe and
assisting us in emergencies, and when an unscrupulous individual
directly places their health and safety at risk for the sake of their
own profits they should be held accountable in the event that their
illegal conduct results in injury or death to a firefighter or other
emergency services personnel.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-16: S1188A/A5539A - Codes/Codes
2014:56254-A/A8644-A - Third Reading Calendar/Codes Committee

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.