Running over protesters on roadways could soon be legal in North Dakota

IANAL, but:

  • It says negligently. IIRC, the legal notion of responsibility ranges from negligence at one end to recklessness and deliberate action on the other. If you purposefully run someone down (rather than hit them because you weren’t paying attention), I don’t think this law would protect you.

  • It says may not be held liable for damages. Nothing about may not be sent to prison. It seems to be addressing civil actions rather than criminal prosecutions. [EDIT: see below.]

(Nothing in this post should be construed to mean that I think this law is a good idea.)

EDITED TO ADD: I completely missed the last para of the bill, which explicitly exempts the driver from criminal sanctions, too. But there, the word “unintentionally” is used instead of “negligently”. Are there any legal bods out there who could cast light on why that may be?

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