Vehicular Aggravated Assault

You can be charged with vehicular aggravated assault Arizona, according to ARS 13-1204, if you intentionally or recklessly injure another person using a motor vehicle. Intentionally injuring someone with a car involves running a person down in the street or driving a car into an occupied structure with the intent to cause physical harm.

More often vehicular aggravated assault is charges as a reckless crime under ARS 13-1204. This charge does not require intentional harm. Instead, the focus is on the reckless actions that cause the injury, like injuring a person while driving under the influence.

Recklessness in Arizona is when a person knows about and deliberately ignores a significant and unreasonable risk, leading to harmful results – in this case someone’s injury. This disregard must be a major departure from what a reasonable person would do in the same situation. It is important to note that it is reckless if a person creates an unjustifiable risk but is unaware of such risk due to voluntary intoxication.

Primary Paths to Vehicular Assault Charges:

1. Any Physical Injury: The prosecution must demonstrate that you, intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly, caused any physical injury to another person while operating your vehicle as the dangerous instrument.

This element means even minor injuries can lead to a conviction. The key here is that a physical injury occurred and your vehicle was the instrument causing it.

2. Serious Physical Injury: This scenario involves proving you caused serious physical harm. Serious physical harm is injuries creating a reasonable risk of death, resulting in serious permanent disfigurement, or causing a significant, long-term impairment of bodily function.

This is a more serious offense compared to causing “any physical injury” and carries more severe penalties.

3. Fear of Injury: This charge requires the prosecution to prove you intentionally caused someone to fear immediate physical harm using your vehicle as a dangerous instrument. This means you made a believable threat of immediate harm with your vehicle. The key factor is that the victim reasonably believed they were about to be harmed.

Your Vehicle as a “Dangerous Instrument”

In the context of 13 1204 ARS, your vehicle is considered a “dangerous instrument” when it is used in a manner capable of causing death or serious physical injury. This is a key part of the charge. The prosecution must show that the way you used your vehicle created a serious risk of harm. Several factors can influence this decision:

• Intentional collision: Using your car to run into or run over another person qualifies it as a dangerous instrument in the eyes of the law because you are using the car as a weapon.
• Driving under the influence (DUI): Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs significantly increases the likelihood of your vehicle being classified as a dangerous instrument. This is because driving while impaired involves greater risk-taking behavior and negligence.
• Reckless Driving: Actions like speeding, aggressive driving, or ignoring traffic signals greatly increase the likelihood of a vehicle being considered a dangerous instrument.
• Dangerous Road Conditions: Driving recklessly in bad weather or difficult road conditions increases the risk and can make it more likely that the vehicle will be considered a dangerous instrument.

In each of these cases, the prosecution will argue the way you used your vehicle transformed it from a means of transportation into a dangerous instrument. They will argue that the way you used your car turned it into a reckless missile or an intentional battering ram on the road.

• Definition: Vehicular aggravated assault in Arizona, per ARS 13-1204, involves intentionally or recklessly injuring another person using a motor vehicle. Intentional injury can include running someone down on the street. Reckless injury often involves situations like causing a collision while driving under the influence.
• Paths to Charges:
  • Any Physical Injury: Causing any physical injury to another person with your vehicle can lead to conviction, even if the injuries are minor.
  • Serious Physical Injury: Causing serious harm that risks death, results in permanent disfigurement, or causes significant long-term impairment.
  • Fear of Injury: Intentionally causing someone to fear immediate harm with your vehicle.
• Vehicle as a “Dangerous Instrument”: A vehicle is considered a dangerous instrument if used in a manner capable of causing death or serious injury. Factors influencing this include intentional collisions, DUI, reckless driving, and driving in dangerous conditions.
• Sentencing: As a Class 3 Dangerous Felony, the penalty for vehicular aggravated assault is 5 to 15 years in prison.
• Key Points:
  • Acting recklessly means ignoring a substantial risk that your actions could cause harm, significantly deviating from what a reasonable person would do.
  • Even minor injuries can lead to charges if other elements of the crime are proven.