news

Site Home > news home
JEFFERSON CITY--Conservationists from the public and private sector agree that a new law making it a crime to leave the scene of a firearms accident is a good way to encourage people to do the right thing. Section 577.068 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, which went into effect Aug. 28, makes it a crime for a person who shoots another person to leave the scene without giving his name, address and driver^s license number to a law enforcement officer. If a conservation agent or other law enforcement officer isn^t available on the scene, the shooter must report to the nearest police station or law enforcement officer. The law specifically allows the shooter to leave the scene to obtain medical help for the victim. The first offense under the law is a class A misdemeanor, but subsequent offenses are class D felonies. At least two Missouri hunters already have been charged under the law. In one incident, a man was struck in the head by shotgun pellets while turkey hunting at Davisdale Conservation Area in Howard County. The shooter, a 63-year-old hunter, fled the scene but investigators with the Missouri Department of Conservation tracked him down using witnesses^ accounts and ballistic information. The other incident involved a 27-year-old man who accidentally shot a hunting companion while deer hunting Nov. 15 in Cole County. The two were hunting together, and the shooter took his injured friend for medical treatment, but initially denied involvement in the accident. But investigators for the Conservation Department and the Cole County Sheriff^s Department discovered evidence that contradicted the two men^s accounts of the mishap, and they eventually admitted making false statements. "These two cases have received quite a bit of media attention, so many people will assume the new law was written specifically for hunting accidents," says Bob Staton, Protection Programs Supervisor for the Conservation Department. In fact, says Staton, the bill was authored by State Rep. Marvin Singleton (R-Seneca), as a result of a domestic incident in which a young man was left without help following a shooting accident and died. "The principle is the same, regardless of whether the circumstances involve hunting," says Staton. "People who are involved in shooting accidents often get scared; there is a natural tendency to want to run away. This law recognizes that in those situations you have a responsibility, first to help the victim and then to help law enforcement personnel figure out how the accident happened." Staton said the Conservation Department supported the legislation, as did hunters. Charlie Davidson, assistant executive director for the Conservation Federation of Missouri, said his organization supported the law, too. "A moral sportsman would never leave the scene of a firearm^s accident in which he or she was involved," says Davidson, "nor should anyone else. This law simply and wisely makes that precept Missouri law." The two cases filed against hunters under the law have not come to trial yet. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail. The maximum sentence for a class D felony is a term of five years.

Uploaded: 12/18/1999