You are here: / / Insufficient Evidence of Depraved Indifference Assault and Assault on a...

Insufficient Evidence of Depraved Indifference Assault and Assault on a Police Officer

The Second Department determined there was insufficient evidence to support defendant’s convictions for depraved indifference assault and assault on a police officer.  The facts did not demonstrate defendant acted with depraved indifference, nor was the injured police officer engaged in a “lawful duty” when he stopped defendant’s car in the absence of reasonable suspicion of criminal activity:

Under these facts, where the defendant was attempting to get away from the officers’ unlawful questioning, where the injuries were caused not by the direct crash, but when the police car pivoted after being hit, and where it all happened in an instant, “the evidence did not establish the degree of depravity and indifference to human life required for depraved indifference [assault]” ….  * * *

A person commits the crime of assault on a police officer when, “with intent to prevent a . . . police officer . . . from performing a lawful duty, he [or she] causes serious physical injury to” the officer (Penal Law § 120.08). “To sustain a conviction of assault in the second [or first] degree under Penal Law § 120.05(3), the People must establish that the injured police officer was engaged in a lawful duty at the time of the assault by the defendant” … .Here, the police conduct in pulling in front of the defendant’s parked vehicle so as to block his ability to pull out of the parking space “constituted a stop, which required reasonable suspicion that the defendant [was] either involved in criminal activity or posed some danger to the police”…. However, Sergeant Pagnotta’s testimony was clear that, at no time prior to the positioning of the police car so as to block the defendant’s vehicle, nor during the ensuing encounter after Sergeant Pagnotta got out of the police car and approached the window of the defendant’s vehicle, was the defendant observed to be engaged in any criminal activity, or in any activity that would have aroused reasonable suspicion.  People v Hurdle, 2013 NY Slip Op 03849, 2nd Dept, 5-29-13

 

You might also like
THE JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE, SUA SPONTE, INCREASED A PENALTY TO WHICH THE PARTIES HAD AGREED IN A SO-ORDERED STIPULATION (SECOND DEPT).
DOG INJURED PLAINTIFF BY RUNNING AND JUMPING UP ON HER IN PLAY, COMPLAINT PROPERLY DISMISSED, DEFENDANTS DEMONSTRATED THE DOG DID NOT HAVE A PROPENSITY TO JUMP IN PLAY EXCEPT ON COMMAND.
RATHER THAN TERMINATING MOTHER’S PARENTAL RIGHTS, FAMILY COURT SHOULD HAVE SUSPENDED JUDGMENT TO GIVE MOTHER A CHANCE TO PREPARE FOR REUNIFICATION WITH HER CHILD (SECOND DEPT).
DEFENSE COUNSEL SUCCESSFULLY PURSUED A MISIDENTIFICATION DEFENSE THROUGHOUT THE TRIAL BUT CONCEDED THE ISSUE IN SUMMATION, DEFENDANT DID NOT RECEIVE EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL; A WITNESS MAY IDENTIFY THE DEFENDANT AT TRIAL DESPITE A PROCEDURALLY-DEFECTIVE PRE-TRIAL IDENTIFICATION (SECOND DEPT).
MOTION TO RENEW SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DENIED AS A MOTION TO REARGUE, NEW EVIDENCE SUFFICIENT TO DEFEAT SUMMARY JUDGMENT WAS PRESENTED.
THE FACT THAT PATERNITY HAD NOT BEEN ESTABLISHED DID NOT PRECLUDE MOTHER’S GUARDIANSHIP PETITION OR FINDINGS TO ALLOW THE CHILD TO PETITION FOR SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS (SIJS) (SECOND DEPT).
DEFENDANT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ESTOPPED FROM CLAIMING THE ADDRESS IN THE AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE WAS NOT HIS DWELLING PLACE; DEFENDANT TOOK AFFIRMATIVE STEPS TO MISLEAD THE PARTY ATTEMPTING TO SERVE HIM (SECOND DEPT). ​
Assault and Robbery Committed by Separate Acts Involving the Same Victim–Consecutive Sentences Justified

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

Grabbing and Spinning a Person Does Not Constitute Unlawful Imprisonment​ No Reasonable Suspicion of Criminal Activity—Frisk of Defendant Impro...