Senate Bill 275 will make the punishment for a hit and run tougher than it is now, for failure to stop and render aid people are currently charged with a third degree felony. SB 275 will make failure to stop and render aid a second degree felony which is equivalent to intoxication manslaughter. The punishment will now be two to twenty years in prison and a fine not to exceed $10,000. SB275 will be enacted in September of this year.
I agree with the Senate in applying this tougher punishment because too many people are leaving the scene and failing to help the person they hit to avoid charges. With the cases that have happened lately the person that was hit has died in the accident. With failure to stop and render aid now carrying a tougher punishment there is hopes that those who commit this act will remain at the scene.
The Gabrielle Jane Nestande case was one of the cases that was influential to bringing this bill to be a top priority for the Texas Legislators. Nestande was charged with criminally negligent homicide for an accident she committed and where she failed to stop and render aid. She received the punishment of ten years of probation, six months in jail, a $10,000 fine, drive in a vehicle with an ignition interlock for four years and complete 600 hours of community service and an electronic ankle monitor for six months. Residents of Austin do not feel that the punishment she received was harsh enough especially because she was not charged with failure to render aid. Since then citizens have been asking for a harsher punishment with which I agree with.
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