Menacing a police officer or peace officer · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 120.18 Menacing a police officer or peace officer.
A person is guilty of menacing a police officer or peace officer when he or she intentionally places or attempts to place a police officer or peace officer in reasonable fear of physical injury, serious physical injury or death by displaying a deadly weapon, knife, pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or other firearm, whether operable or not, where such officer was in the course of performing his or her official duties and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known that such victim was a police officer or peace officer.
Menacing a police officer or peace officer is a class D felony.
A person menaces a police or peace officer by displaying a listed deadly weapon, knife, or firearm—including an inoperable one—to intentionally put or try to put the officer in reasonable fear of injury or death, while the officer is performing official duties and the person knows or should know the officer’s status. ★ It is a class D felony.
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.