Sec. 15-154. Enforcement. Refusal to stop vessel or take vessel to designated area. Rules for avoiding interference with operation of law enforcement vessel or fire rescue vessel. Penalties. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 15-154. Enforcement. Refusal to stop vessel or take vessel to designated area. Rules for avoiding interference with operation of law enforcement vessel or fire rescue vessel. Penalties. (a) Any harbor master, deputy harbor master, conservation officer, special conservation officer or state police officer and any municipal police officer, any special police officer appointed under sections 29-18 and 29-19, any town marine officers appointed under section 15-154a and certified by the commissioner for marine police duty and any lake patrolman appointed under section 7-151b may enforce the provisions of this chapter and chapter 446k, except that only peace officers shall enforce the provisions of subsection (d) of section 15-133 and sections 15-140l and 15-140n. In the enforcement of this chapter, such officer may arrest, without previous complaint and warrant, any person who fails to comply with the provisions of this chapter. Failure to appear in court pursuant to such arrest, unless excused by the court or the state's attorney or assistant state's attorney, shall constitute sufficient cause for the suspension by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles of the boat registration of the boat involved for not more than thirty days or until the matter is resolved by the court, whichever is sooner.

      (b) When engaged in the enforcement of this chapter and chapter 446k, such officer shall have the authority to stop and board any vessel which is under way or which is moored on the waters of this state for the purposes of (1) examining decals, certificates and other documents, (2) inspecting safety equipment and waste disposal systems, (3) determining if the operation of such vessel exceeds the noise levels established in subsection (b) of section 15-129, (4) searching when such officer has probable cause to believe that any provision of any law of this state or any rule or regulation of the Department of Environmental Protection relating to boating or water pollution has been violated, (5) determining compliance with sections 15-140l and 15-140n and subsections (d) and (e) of section 15-133, when such authorized officer has probable cause to believe said section or subsection has been violated, and (6) making arrests.

      (c) No person operating a vessel shall refuse to stop such vessel or, if sea conditions make stopping in that area unsafe, refuse to take such vessel to a designated area after being requested or signalled to do so by such officer. Any person operating a vessel who refuses to stop or refuses to take such vessel to the designated area shall have committed an infraction. Any person, when signalled to stop by such officer in a law enforcement vessel using an audible signal device or flashing blue lights, who operates such vessel in disregard of such signal so as to (1) interfere with or endanger the operation of the law enforcement vessel or any other vessel, (2) endanger or cause damage to property or person, or (3) increase or maintain speed in an attempt to escape or elude such law enforcement officer shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor. If such violation causes the death or serious physical injury of another person, the vessel operator shall be guilty of a class D felony, and such operator's safe boating certificate, certificate of personal watercraft operation or right to operate a vessel that requires a certificate shall be suspended for one year. For any subsequent offense, such operator shall be guilty of a class D felony, except that if any prior offense by such operator under this section caused, and such subsequent offense causes, the death or serious physical injury of another person, such operator shall be guilty of a class D felony for which one year of the sentence imposed may not be suspended or reduced by the court, and such operator's safe boating certificate, certificate of personal watercraft operation or right to operate a vessel that requires a certificate shall be suspended for not less than eighteen months or more than two years. Proof of the registration number of the vessel shall be prima facie evidence in any prosecution that the owner was the operator. For purposes of this subsection, "serious physical injury" means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious disfigurement, serious impairment of health or serious loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ.

      (d) Upon the immediate approach of a law enforcement vessel using an audible signal device and flashing blue lights or a fire rescue vessel using an audible signal device and flashing red or yellow lights, any person operating a vessel shall immediately slow to a speed sufficient to maintain steerage only, shall alter course, within its ability, so as not to inhibit or interfere with the operation of the law enforcement vessel or fire rescue vessel, and shall proceed, unless otherwise directed by an officer in the law enforcement vessel or fire rescue vessel, at a reduced speed until beyond the area of operation of the law enforcement vessel or fire rescue vessel. Any person operating a vessel who wilfully or negligently obstructs or retards any law enforcement or fire rescue vessel answering an emergency call or in pursuit of fleeing law violators, shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than seven days, or both.

      (e) Any person operating a vessel passing within two hundred feet of a stationary law enforcement vessel using an audible signal device and flashing blue lights or a stationary fire rescue vessel using flashing red or yellow lights shall reduce speed to a speed of slow-no-wake until there is a distance of more than two hundred feet between such person's vessel and the law enforcement vessel or fire rescue vessel. For purposes of this subsection, "slow-no-wake" means operation of a vessel at a speed that does not produce more than a minimum wake and is not greater than six miles per hour over ground, unless a higher minimum speed is necessary to maintain steerage when traveling with a strong current.

      (f) A person who violates subsection (e) of this section shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars.

      (g) The Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall publish an enforcement manual, conduct training and educational sessions, serve as liaison between the enforcement groups and the Superior Court and shall be generally responsible for the overall coordination of enforcement.

      (1961, P.A. 506, S. 21; 1963, P.A. 552, S. 2; 1967, P.A. 170, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 219, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 54, S. 2; 872, S. 391; P.A. 73-257, S. 18, 27; P.A. 74-183, S. 205, 291; P.A. 76-381, S. 34; 76-436, S. 175, 681; P.A. 81-423, S. 14, 25; P.A. 82-472, S. 38, 48, 183; P.A. 84-268, S. 2; P.A. 87-505, S. 2, 9; P.A. 89-388, S. 9, 23, 27; P.A. 03-244, S. 7; P.A. 04-257, S. 28; P.A. 05-133, S. 2; P.A. 07-179, S. 1.)

      History: 1963 act added volunteer police auxiliary force member to Subsec. (a); 1967 act substituted "chapter" for "part", amended Subsec. (b) to allow boarding of boat operated in reckless manner, to expand provisions re stopping boat when signalled to do so and to include provision for fine and added Subsec. (c) re enforcement by boat safety commission; 1969 act provided in Subsec. (a) for suspension of registration for failure to appear in court; 1971 acts allowed enforcement of chapter provisions by town marine officer and replaced "boating commission" and "commission" with "commissioner" referring to commissioner of environmental protection; P.A. 73-257 gave enforcement power to special police officer, extended enforcement to part II of chapter 474 and chapter 474a, replaced references to summons with references to arrest powers, gave power to suspend registration to motor vehicles commissioner rather than environmental protection commissioner and deleted provision which allowed arrest only on court order or warrant issued by prosecuting officer and amended Subsec. (b) to allow officer to stop boats as specified, replacing requirement that patrols be made only in marked police vessels and that vessels be stopped only if ID number not displayed or if boat is operated recklessly; P.A. 74-183 replaced circuit court with court of common pleas in Subsec. (c); P.A. 76-381 replaced provision for $50 maximum fine in Subsec. (b) with statement that violator deemed to have committed an infraction; P.A. 76-436 replaced "prosecutor" with "state's attorney" or "assistant state's attorney" in Subsec. (a) and replaced court of common pleas with superior court in Subsec. (c), effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 81-423 inserted "vessel" in lieu of "motorboat" where appropriate in Subsec. (b); P.A. 82-472 divided Subsec. (b) into Subdivs. and made other technical corrections; P.A. 84-268 added new Subsec. (b)(3) authorizing an officer to stop and board vessels to determine compliance with noise level standards and renumbered the remaining Subdivs. accordingly; P.A. 87-505 amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision re penalty failure to stop a vessel and substituted reference to searching with "probable cause" for reference to searching without a warrant; P.A. 89-388 amended Subsec. (a) to authorize lake patrolmen to enforce boating law and water pollution control law and added Subsec. (b)(5) re probable cause for violations of Sec. 15-133 and renumbering the remaining Subdiv. accordingly; P.A. 03-244 amended Subsec. (a) to delete provision re members of volunteer police auxiliary force and to provide that only peace officers shall enforce Secs. 15-33(d), 15-140l and 15-140n and amended Subsec. (b) to add reference to Secs. 15-133(d) and (e), 15-140l and 15-140n and to make technical changes; P.A. 04-257 made technical changes in Subsec. (b), effective June 14, 2004; P.A. 05-133 replaced reference to Sec. 15-33 with reference to Sec. 15-133 in Subsec. (a), divided Subsec. (b) into Subsecs. (b) and (c), made technical changes, replaced former provisions re fines with provisions re penalties for refusal to stop vessel or take vessel to designated area if violation causes serious physical injury to another person and defined "serious physical injury" in Subsec. (c) and redesignated former Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (d); P.A. 07-179 added new Subsecs. (d), (e) and (f) re rules for avoiding interference with operation of law enforcement vessel or fire rescue vessel and penalties for violations thereof and redesignated existing Subsec. (d) as Subsec. (g), effective July 1, 2007.

      See chapter 881b re infractions of the law.

      Cited. 224 C. 29.