Long Island, NY - March 22, 2018 - Assemblyman Michael Montesano (R,C,Ref-Glen Head) is proud to announce his co-sponsorship of a bill (A.6164) which would make leaving the scene of an accident, that results in personal injury, without reporting it, currently a class A misdemeanor, a class E felony.
“No matter what the circumstances which cause an accident, avoiding the repercussions you might face is not worth risking someone else’s life,” said Montesano. “The repercussions will only be worse should you leave the scene of an accident. Other parties involved may need medical assistance and be unable to call for help, which is why it is so dangerous to leave the scene and not report what happened. This is why I support raising the penalties against those who leave the scene of an accident. While it might be a rash decision that they later regret, they still decided not getting in trouble is more important than someone else’s life. It is sad that we have to create harsher penalties to encourage people to stay on-scene and call for help, but if it’s what we have to do in order to protect our communities it must be done. There is almost nothing worse than a coward with little concern for other human life.”