2019 Missouri Revised Statutes
Title XXXVIII - Crimes and Punishment; Peace Officers and Public Defenders
Chapter 577 - Public Safety Offenses
Section 577.300 Leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle — first and second degree — penalties.

Effective 01 Jan 2017, see footnote

577.300. Leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle — first and second degree — penalties. — 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:

(1) "Collision", the act of a motor vehicle coming into contact with an object or a person;

(2) "Injures", to cause physical harm to the body of a person;

(3) "Motor vehicle", any automobile, truck, truck-tractor, or any motor bus or motor-propelled vehicle not exclusively operated or driven on fixed rails or tracks;

(4) "Unattended", not accompanied by an individual fourteen years of age or older.

2. A person commits the offense of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle in the first degree if such person knowingly leaves a child less than eleven years of age unattended in a motor vehicle and such child fatally injures another person by causing a motor vehicle collision or by causing the motor vehicle to fatally injure a pedestrian.

3. Leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle in the first degree is a class C felony.

4. A person commits the offense of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle in the second degree if such person knowingly leaves a child less than eleven years of age unattended in a motor vehicle and such child injures another person by causing a motor vehicle collision or by causing the motor vehicle to injure a pedestrian.

5. The offense of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.

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(L. 2000 S.B. 757 & 602, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491)

Transferred 2014; formerly 568.052; Effective 1-01-17