Valentine's Law - aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor ...
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 575.151
in effect575.151. Valentine's Law — aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor vehicle, offense of — penalty. — 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as "Valentine's Law".
2. A person commits the offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention of a motor vehicle if he or she knows or reasonably should know that a law enforcement officer is attempting to detain or stop a motor vehicle, and for the purpose of preventing the officer from effecting the stop or detention, he or she flees and:
(1) Such person operates a motor vehicle at a high speed or in any manner which creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury or death to any person;
(2) As a result of such flight causes physical injury to another person; or
(3) As a result of such flight causes death to another person.
3. A person is presumed to be fleeing a vehicle stop or detention if he or she continues to operate a motor vehicle after he or she has seen or reasonably should have seen clearly visible emergency lights or has heard or reasonably should have heard an audible signal emanating from the law enforcement vehicle pursuing him or her.
4. It is no defense to a prosecution pursuant to subsection 2 of this section that the law enforcement officer was acting unlawfully in making the arrest. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to bar civil suits for unlawful arrest. A person need not know the basis for the arrest, detention, or stop, only that the person was being stopped or detained.
5. The offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention in violation of subdivision (1) of subsection 2 of this section shall be a class D felony, without eligibility for probation, parole, or conditional release until the defendant has served no less than one year of such sentence. The offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention in violation of subdivision (2) of subsection 2 of this section shall be a class B felony. The offense of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention in violation of subdivision (3) of subsection 2 of this section shall be a class A felony.
(L. 2024 S.B. 754, et al.)
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=575.151Fetched: 10/17/2026