Aggravated strangulation · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 121.13-a Aggravated strangulation.
A person is guilty of aggravated strangulation when, being a police officer as defined in subdivision thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law or a peace officer as defined in section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law, he or she commits the crime of criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, as defined in section 121.11 of this article, or uses a chokehold or similar restraint, as described in paragraph b of subdivision one of section eight hundred thirty-seven-t of the executive law, and thereby causes serious physical injury or death to another person.
Aggravated strangulation is a class C felony.
A police or peace officer commits aggravated strangulation by committing criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation under § 121.11, or using the specified chokehold or similar restraint, and thereby causing serious physical injury or death. ★ It is a class C 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.