Alabama House committee approves bill criminalizing interference with first responders

An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved legislation to make it a crime to interfere with first responders working a scene after the sponsor removed language that critics said violated free speech rights.

HB 224, sponsored by Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, makes it a misdemeanor to loiter within 25 feet of a first responder after getting told to leave the scene or to interfere with either paramedics or law enforcement who were dispatched to the area.

“We are seeing more and more of this,” Treadaway told the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. “Since I left four years ago a lot of this, when I was policing, we did not see.”

As originally filed, the bill included language that potentially criminalized people for verbally harassing or directing abusive language at first responders.

A substitute that Treadaway filed removed that section and required first responders to instruct people not to approach or leave the scene. If they refuse or return after they are told to leave, and remain within 25 feet of the first responder, they are then subject to arrest if they interfere with first responders while they are working a scene, or if they threaten them.

Those who violate the provisions in the bill are subject to a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine.

The radius for the crime was originally 100 feet. The substitute changed it to 25 feet. The original version also stated that those who loiter within 25 feet of a first responder after they were told to leave and interfere in the situation or make disparaging verbal comments or abusive language could then be charged with a Class A misdemeanor. The language was removed.

The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee considered the legislation after the committee hosted a public hearing in March prior to the spring recess.

Some still had concerns with the limit pertaining to distance.

“Is there anything that is going to tell the community that they are going to have to stay back 25 feet?” asked Rep. Tashina Morris, D-Montgomery.

Treadaway said that officers are trained to move a crowd back from a scene further than 25 feet and make it clear they cannot move any closer.

“We have this whole court system in our country that allows redress,” Treadaway said.

He said that individuals can use the court system to challenge the actions of law enforcement.

“If the officer is doing his job, he is videotaping everything, he is not going to put someone in jail that he has got to go before a judge,” Treadaway said. “We have this whole court system in this country that allows redress, so if you feel like you want to challenge it, just like a ticket, that is what we have a court for. Either you can pay for your ticket, or you can argue your case. An officer feels the same way.”

The bill moves to the full House.