Aggravated Battery With a Deadly Weapon and Cars

In Florida, you can commit the crime of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon if you use your car to hit someone else's car when they are inside it. For example, if you use your car to hit someone else's car and the person in the other car is injured, or if he had to brace himself when the collision occurred, or if the collision jostled him about, or spun him around, or moved him about within his car, then you may be guilty of aggravated battery.

In the case of Maurice Walker versus the State of Florida, Mr. Walker was accused of aggravated battery on a police officer with a deadly weapon after the police tried to make a traffic stop by turning on their lights and sirens. Walker sped up and during the chase twice struck one of the patrol cars that was chasing him. Walker ended up losing control of his car and crashing into a median.

The court of appeals decided that Walker was not guilty of aggravated battery because:

1. Photographs showed that the exterior of the patrol car sustained only minor damage.

2. Although there was evidence that a police dog was injured when Walker's car struck the patrol car, the officer driving the patrol car was not himself physically injured in any way by the collision.

3. Although the officer testified that he was scared when the collision occurred, no evidence was presented at Walker's trial that the officer was ever jostled when his patrol car was struck twice by Walker's car.