Leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle
This law is about leaving a young child alone in a car. If someone leaves a child under 11 years old alone in a car (without anyone 14 or older present) and that child causes the car to crash or hit someone, the person who left the child can get in trouble. If the crash kills someone, it is a more serious crime (class C felony). If the crash only injures someone, it is a lesser crime (class A misdemeanor).
Classifications stated in the statute. Actual outcomes vary.
577.300. Leaving a child in a motor vehicle — first and second degree — penalties. — 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) "", 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, , or any motor bus or motor-propelled vehicle not exclusively operated or driven on rails or tracks;
(4) "Unattended", not accompanied by an individual fourteen years of age or older.
2. A person commits the of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle in the first degree if such person 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 .
3. Leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle in the first degree is a .
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 .
Tap any gold-underlined word to see what it means.
Source & history notes
(L. 2000 S.B. 757 & 602, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491) Transferred 2014; formerly 568.052; Effective 1-01-17
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.