SENATE, No. 2617

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED JUNE 25, 2020

 


 

Sponsored by:

Senator  SHIRLEY K. TURNER

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators Singleton and Cunningham

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd’s Law.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

 


An Act concerning law enforcement, designated as George Floyd’s Law, and supplementing Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes. 

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.   As used in this act, “law enforcement officer” means a person whose public duties include the power to act as an officer for the detection, apprehension, arrest, and conviction of offenders against the laws of this State and who is acting in the performance of  the officer’s duties while in uniform or exhibiting evidence of the officer's authority or status. 

     b.    A law enforcement officer who knowingly places pressure on a person’s throat, windpipe, or carotid artery, thereby hindering or preventing that person’s ability to breathe, or interfering with the flow of blood from the person’s heart to the  brain, shall be guilty of a crime of the first degree. 

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately. 

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill establishes a first degree crime of a law enforcement officer choking another person. 

     Under the bill, a law enforcement officer who  knowingly places pressure on a person’s throat, windpipe, or carotid artery, thereby hindering or preventing that person’s ability to breathe, or interfering with the flow of blood from the person’s heart to the  brain, is guilty of a crime of the first degree.  First degree crimes are punishable by a prison term of 10 to 20 years, a fine of up to $200,000, or both.

     On June 5, 2020, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General issued notice that it will ban police departments from using chokeholds, carotid artery neck restraints, or similar tactics, except where deadly force is necessary.  This bill prohibits these chokeholds.  The bill is designated as George Floyd’s Law, after George Floyd, who died while being choked by a Minneapolis law enforcement officer during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill.