HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 12:05 p.m., in Room
1310, Longworth House Office Building, Honorable William L.
Hungate, (Chairman) presiding.
Present: Representatives Hungate (Chairman), Mikva, Nelsen,
Thomson and Smith.
Also present: James T. Clark, clerk; Hayden S. Garber, counsel;
John Hogan, minority clerk; and Leonard O. Hilder, investigator.
Mr. HUNGATE. We will take up at this time H.R. 5638, providing
for criminal penalties for assaults on firemen.
(H.R. 5638 together with the accompanying staff memorandum
follow :)
H.R. 5638, 92d Cong., 1st Sess., by Mr. McMillan on March 4, 1971
A BILL To extend the penalty for assault on a police officer in the District of Columbia to
assaults on firemen, to provide criminal penalties for interfering with firemen in the
performance of their duties, and for other purposes
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That subsection (a) of section 432 of the Revised
Statutes relating to the District of Columbia (D.C. Code, sec. 22-505) is amended
by inserting after "District of Columbia," where such phrase first appears, the
following: "or any officer or member of any fire department operating in the
District of Columbia,”.
[Staff Memorandum, Mar. 29, 1971]
H.R. 5638 (MCMILLAN)—PROVIDE Penalties for Assaults on FiremeN
This bill, recommended by D.C. Government, provides the same penalties for
assaults on firemen, as the law imposes for assaults on policemen.
It is urged that where the efforts of firemen are being interfered with, prompt,
effective action is necessary to prevent widespread destruction of property.
At the present time there is no law in the District of Columbia making it a
crime to assault or otherwise interfere with a fireman while he is performing his
duties in connection with extinguishing a fire. In order to constitute this kind of
activity a criminal offense, the bill amends subsection (a) of section 432 of the
Revised Statutes relating to the District of Columbia (D.C. Code, sec. 22-505),
presently applying to assaults on police officers and employees of penal and
correctional institutions, so as to extend its coverage to officers and members of
the District of Columbia Fire Department and any other fire department operating
in the District of Columbia.