New York Crimes: Reckless Endangerment
Pursuant to Penal Law § 120.20, “a person is guilty of reckless endangerment in the second degree when he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person”.
Reckless endangerment in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor in New York.
Pursuant to Penal Law § 120.25, “a person is guilty of reckless endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person”.
Reckless endangerment in the first degree is a class D felony.
The term “person” is defined in Penal Law §10.00(7) as “… a human being, and where appropriate, a public or private corporation, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a government or a governmental instrumentality".
The culpable mental state of “reckless” is defined in Penal Law §15.05(3) as:
“A person acts recklessly with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. A person who creates such a risk but is unaware thereof solely by reason of voluntary intoxication also acts recklessly with respect thereto.”
The phrase “serious physical Injury” is defined in Penal Law §10.00(10) as
“… physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes death or serious and protracted disfigurement, protracted impairment of health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ”.
Please contact me if you have been charged with either reckless endangerment in the first or second degree. The initial consultation is free. If the case is not dismissed, I will negotiate a plea agreement acceptable to you or take the case to trial. You can call me toll free at 1-877-858-2889.
