An Act to Clarify the Criminal Statutes with Regard to Assaults on Emergency Medical Services Persons
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1119
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: BENNETT, PERRY
Amends: 17-A MRSA §752-C, 17-A MRSA §752-F, 17-A MRSA §1604, 22 MRSA §832-A

Legislative Document
No. 1119
S.P. 453
In Senate, March 9, 2023
An Act to Clarify the Criminal Statutes with Regard to Assaults on 
Emergency Medical Services Persons
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator BENNETT of Oxford.
Cosponsored by Representative PERRY of Calais.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  17-A MRSA §752-C, as amended by PL 2015, c. 471, §1, is further amended 
to read:
§752-C.  Assault on an emergency medical care provider services person
1.   A person is guilty of assault on an emergency medical care provider services person 
if that person intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to an emergency 
medical care provider a person licensed pursuant to Title 32, section 82 while the 
emergency medical care provider that licensee is providing emergency medical care 
regardless of the location where the emergency medical care is provided.
2.   As used in this section, "emergency medical care provider" includes hospital 
personnel assisting in an emergency and emergency medical services persons, defined in 
Title 32, section 83, subsection 12, but does not include a firefighter as defined in section 
752‑E, subsection 2.
3.   Assault on an emergency medical care provider services person is a Class C crime.
Sec. 2.  17-A MRSA §752-F is enacted to read:
§752-F.  Assault in an emergency room
1.   A person is guilty of assault in an emergency room if that person intentionally, 
knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to a person employed or contracted by a 
hospital licensed under Title 22, chapter 405 if the injury occurs in the hospital's designated 
emergency room.
2.   Assault in an emergency room is a Class C crime.
Sec. 3.  17-A MRSA §1604, sub-§5, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 113, Pt. A, §2, 
is amended to read:
B.  If the State pleads and proves that, at the time any crime, excluding murder, under 
chapter 9, 11, 12, 13, 27 or 35, excluding section 853‑A; section 402‑A, subsection 1, 
paragraph A; or section 752‑A or, 752‑C or 752-F was committed, or an attempt of any 
such crime was committed, the individual had 2 or more prior convictions under 
chapter 9, 11, 12, 13, 27 or 35, excluding section 853‑A; section 402‑A, subsection 1, 
paragraph A; or section 752‑A or, 752‑C or 752-F, or for an attempt of any such crime, 
or for engaging in substantially similar conduct in another jurisdiction, the sentencing 
class for the crime is one class higher than it would otherwise be.
(1)  In the case of a Class A crime, the sentencing class is not elevated, but the prior 
record must be assigned special weight by the court when imposing a sentence.
(2)  Section 9‑A governs the use of prior convictions when determining a sentence, 
except that, for the purposes of this paragraph, for violations under chapter 11, the 
dates of prior convictions may have occurred at any time.
This paragraph does not apply to section 210‑A if the prior convictions have already 
served to elevate the sentencing class under section 210‑A, subsection 1, paragraph C 
or E or any other offense in which prior convictions have already served to elevate the 
sentencing class.
This paragraph does not apply to murder under section 201 or to section 853-A.
Sec. 4.  22 MRSA §832-A, sub-§1, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2017, c. 292, §1, is 
amended to read:
C.  "Emergency medical care provider" has the same meaning as in Title 17‑A, section 
752‑C, subsection 2 includes hospital personnel assisting in an emergency and 
emergency medical services persons, defined in Title 32, section 83, subsection 12, but 
does not include a firefighter.
SUMMARY
Under current law, a person is guilty of a Class C crime if that person intentionally, 
knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to an emergency medical care provider, as 
that term is defined in the law, while the provider is providing emergency care.  This bill 
amends the law by specifying that it is a Class C crime if the bodily injury is to:
1.  A person licensed pursuant to the Maine Emergency Medical Services Act of 1982, 
regardless of the location where the emergency medical care is provided; or
2.  A person employed or contracted by a hospital and the injury occurs in the hospital's 
designated emergency room.
The bill also amends the law governing elevating the class of a crime to include assaults 
on emergency medical services providers.
The bill also makes a technical change to the definition of "emergency medical care 
provider" in the law governing emergency blood-borne pathogen testing. Currently, that 
term is defined by providing a cross-reference to a term the bill repeals.