JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed several bills into law on Tuesday, including legislation to criminalize celebratory gunfire and fleeing from police.
The bills are more commonly known as “Blair’s Law” and “Valentine’s Law,” two parts of a larger crime bill Parson has signed into law.
The first was named after Blair Lane, a girl fatally struck by celebratory gunfire during the Fourth of July in 2011. The second was named after Antonio Valentine, a former St. Louis County detective killed in the line of duty after a suspect fled from an attempted traffic stop in December 2021.
Blair’s Law will criminalize anyone who unlawfully discharges a firearm with criminal negligence. According to the legislation, “a person commits the offense of unlawful discharge of a firearm if he or she recklessly discharges a firearm within or into the limits of a municipality.”
Violations would result in a misdemeanor after one offense and felony charges after any additional offenses.
St. Louis police have warned against celebratory gunfire often around the New Year’s Day holiday. Blair’s Law also comes after a violent holiday weekend in St. Louis, which led to seven people shot in downtown early Friday around an incident that also involved fireworks.
Valentine’s Law will criminalize anyone fleeing from police in connection with another crime. According to the legislation, it “creates the offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor vehicle if the person knows that a law enforcement officer is attempting to detain the vehicle and the person flees at a high speed which creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury or death or actually causes physical injury or death to another person.”
A violation could range from a Class A to Class D felony depending on if the situation led to a serious injury or death.
The new law also states that “a person is presumed to be fleeing a vehicle stop if he or she has seen or heard or reasonably should have seen or heard emergency lights or sounds” and specifies it is not a defense for any officer “acting unlawfully” in making an arrest.
Supporters believe the bill could help prevent incidents like the one that led to Valentine’s death.
Valentine was working with other drug unit detectives conducting an investigation in the Bellefontaine Neighbors area when detectives tried to stop a Volkswagen Jetta. Instead authorities said that the driver of the Jetta sped away and crashed into an unmarked police minivan that Valentine was driving. Both Valentine and the driver of the Jetta, 33-year-old Alfred Mayes, were killed.
NOTE: Video is from FOX 2’s coverage of Blair’s Law legislation in March 2024.
