Bratton Wants Stronger Penalties For Resisting Arrest
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Wednesday he would support legislation making resisting arrest a felony.
"We need to get around this idea that you can resist arrest," Bratton said, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported. "You can't. You just can't do it. (It) results in potential injury to the officers, to the suspect, and we need to change that. One of the ways to change that is start giving penalties for that."
The police commissioner made his feelings known during a public hearing with members of the state Senate.
Bratton said that cases of resisting arrests are often dismissed in court. He plans to meet with all five district attorneys in the city to ask them to take the charge more seriously.
"We're going to actually CompStat the process," Bratton said. "We're going to track them very, very closely going forward. Why weren't charges accepted and filed? Was it on our end, omissions on preparation?"
Bratton's comments come more than six months after Eric Garner, a Staten Island man, died after he resisted arrest and was placed in an apparent chokehold by a police officer.