SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that a state law making it a felony to flee a pursuing law enforcement officer requires police to be wearing a uniform and driving a vehicle with visible markings such as the police agency’s insignia.
The divided decision came Thursday in a pair of cases that originated on opposite sides of the state. Both cases centered on a law used to prosecute people who lead police on high-speed chases.
In a case out of San Juan County, the court concluded that a state district judge properly dismissed a charge against a man because the pursuing sheriff’s deputy was driving an unmarked SUV that had flashing red and blue lights in its grill and a siren, but no decals, insignias or lettering to indicate it was a law enforcement vehicle.
In the other case, the justices said a man’s conviction should be reversed because the pursuing Curry County sheriff’s deputy was not wearing a uniform, but rather dress pants, a shirt and tie with a badge displayed on the shirt pocket. The deputy was an investigator and drove an unmarked SUV with flashing lights in the grill but no lettering or law enforcement decals.
The law states that a person can be charged with aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer for driving in a reckless way that endangers others after being signaled to stop during a pursuit by a “uniformed law enforcement officer in an appropriately marked law enforcement vehicle.”
The charge is classified as a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
The justices concluded that the Court of Appeals had wrongly determined in both cases that the vehicles driven by the deputies met the law’s requirement for appropriate markings. The court also found that flashing lights and a siren aren’t enough and that a police officer’s badge alone doesn’t constitute a uniform.
Justice Michael E. Vigil wrote in the majority opinion that the court considered the plain meaning of the words “uniform” and “appropriately marked” to interpret the law.
In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Judith K. Nakamura disagreed with the strict interpretation of the wording at issue. She said it “has the pernicious effect of permitting some offenders who knowingly disobey officer commands and then flee in a manner that endangers the public to avoid criminal punishment simply because an officer’s uniform and/or vehicle were not sufficiently distinctive.”
“What I do not accept is the notion that our Legislature meant to embed in the aggravated fleeing statute the presumption that a defendant can only know that he or she is fleeing police when police are formally attired and operating a vehicle with decals or insignia,” Nakamura wrote.
She pointed out that at night, defendants may not be able to see decals or other markings on a pursuing vehicle and the only identifying feature of a law enforcement vehicle may be flashing red and blue lights and perhaps a siren.
