Bill Text: NJ A870 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee [A870 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A870-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
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.
