Fleeing or Eluding Police Lawyer in Southern Illinois

Fleeing or Eluding Lawyer in Southern Illinois

Trying to flee or evade a police officer can result in jail time. Worse yet, if you fled by car, Illinois can suspend your driver’s license and seize your vehicle.

The experienced legal professionals at Combs Waterkotte have successfully handled over 10,000 criminal cases, including many where officers accused the defendant of fleeing or eluding. We craft strong defenses to challenge these potentially serious charges.

What Does “Fleeing or Eluding” Mean?

“Fleeing or eluding” can have different meanings depending on the jurisdiction. Federal fleeing or eluding means the accused left their state to avoid testifying or being prosecuted for a state felony charge. This federal crime usually provides the basis for federal law enforcement officers to track down and apprehend fugitives from justice.

Under state law, fleeing or eluding often has a much narrower definition.

On the state level, these charges may be used to prosecute someone for failing to stop when a police officer tries to pull them over for a traffic offense or DUI. They may also apply when a person runs away after an officer observes them committing potentially criminal acts and commands them to stop.

The goal of these statutes is to punish people who disobey a lawful command of an officer attempting to enforce the laws.

Statutes Covering Fleeing or Eluding in Illinois

Illinois has several statutes that prosecutors may cite when a police officer accuses you of trying to avoid a legal traffic stop or arrest. The law that applies depends on whether a vehicle was involved. Specifically, prosecutors can invoke any of the following statutes when you’ve been accused of fleeing law enforcement officers:

Fleeing or Eluding in Southern Illinois

Illinois has a very narrow fleeing or eluding statute. In fact, the offense is so specific that it appears in the state’s vehicle code rather than its criminal code.

In Illinois, fleeing or eluding occurs when a driver willfully fails to stop after an officer gives a visual or audible signal directing them to do so. Under this law, any of the following acts can qualify as fleeing or eluding:

• Disobeying a peace officer’s signal to stop
• Speeding up after receiving a signal to stop
• Turning off the vehicle’s lights after the officer signals
• Otherwise fleeing or attempting to elude the officer

The statute covers all signals from police officers, including:

• Hand signals
• Voice commands
• Sirens
• Blue lights

The statute also includes some important limitations. For instance, the officer must be wearing a police uniform, and their vehicle must be equipped with flashing, rotating, or oscillating lights and a siren or horn.

The purpose of these limitations is to ensure that the accused knew that the person signaling was, in fact, a police officer and not a civilian or someone who intended to harm them.

Aggravated Fleeing or Eluding in Southern Illinois

Aggravated fleeing or eluding happens when someone flees or eludes a police officer and performs any of the following acts during the flight or attempt to elude:

• Travels at least 21 miles per hour over the posted speed limit
• Injures anyone
• Causes more than $300 in property damage
• Runs two or more red lights
• Conceals or alters their license plate

Bear in mind that these acts can also expose the accused to additional charges.

For example, someone who allegedly engaged in a high-speed chase may face speeding charges in addition to aggravated fleeing or eluding charges. Similarly, someone who causes a serious crash may face assault or battery charges on top of their aggravated fleeing or eluding charge.

Resisting or Obstructing a Peace Officer

Another charge that prosecutors can pursue when a suspect is accused of fleeing or eluding officers is resisting or obstructing a peace officer.

Resisting arrest is defined broadly under Illinois law, allowing prosecutors to pursue charges if a suspect flees an officer on foot. Thus, prosecutors can pursue charges of fleeing or eluding if you drive away from a police officer or resisting arrest charges if you run away.

Disobeying a Peace Officer in Southern Illinois

Illinois law requires citizens to obey peace officers directing traffic. If you disobey an officer’s lawful command, prosecutors can charge you with disobeying a peace officer. For example, if an officer directing traffic at an accident scene directs you to the right, but you go to the left to make a U-turn, they could issue a citation.

This charge is important when developing a defense because it’s a petty offense that’s only punishable with a fine. Therefore, if your lawyer successfully negotiates a plea deal to reduce your charges to disobeying a peace officer, you won’t face any jail time or a criminal record.

Possible Defenses Against Fleeing or Eluding Charges in Southern Illinois

An experienced Southern Illinois attorney can craft a criminal defense strategy to challenge your charges. Notably, if your attorney disproves one or more elements of a fleeing or eluding charge, they may succeed in getting the charges dismissed or reduced to disobeying a peace officer.

Additional criminal defenses to these charges include the following:

Fourth Amendment Violation

Generally, police officers are prohibited by the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment from stopping you unless they have probable cause or an arrest warrant. If the officer attempted to stop you for an unlawful reason, you might not have violated the law when you refused to stop.

Moreover, according to the Illinois statute, you can only resist arrest if there was an “underlying offense” for which you were subject to arrest. In other words, you can’t resist arrest if you weren’t being arrested for some other crime.

Lack of Intent

Fleeing or eluding requires knowledge and intent. If you’re unaware that a police officer is trying to execute a traffic stop, you can’t flee or elude them—you must knowingly and willfully refuse to stop when the officer signals.

This defense might apply if you never saw the signal or continued driving to find a place where you could safely pull over. In both cases, you would have lacked the intent to flee or elude.

Penalties After a Conviction for Fleeing or Eluding in Southern Illinois

Illinois law generally treats fleeing, eluding, resisting, and obstructing as misdemeanors. Under certain circumstances, they may be elevated to felony charges. However, even when prosecutors charge someone with these higher offenses, they’re still treated as low-level felonies.

A judge may impose the following penalties upon a conviction for fleeing, eluding, resisting, or obstructing in Southern Illinois: