House to consider bill named for officerLegislative committees passed a flurry of bills on Thursday, including a proposed law named for fallen Montgomery police officer Keith E. Houts. The House Judiciary Committee passed the Officer Keith E. Houts Act, in an effort to prevent dangerous high-speed pursuits. The bill would make it a felony to attempt to evade a police officer who is trying to pull your vehicle over. Currently, attempting to evade law enforcement is considered an unclassified misdemeanor so the suspect is only given a ticket unless there were other offenses involved. The Houts Act is now in line to be considered by the full House. Houts' sister, Lori Holsomback, was in the committee meeting. She said she was excited the bill passed the first step in the process. The sponsor, former state trooper and current state Rep. Spencer Collier, R-Irvington, has introduced the bill before, but it has died in the legislative process. "I know it's important to police officers because they put their lives on the line," Holsomback said. She said her family was honored that the bill was named for Houts and said he would have been honored, too. "He wanted to be a police officer since he was a boy," his sister said. Houts, an Army reservist and two-year member of the Montgomery Police Department, died after he was shot during a September 2006 traffic stop in north Montgomery. He was 30 years old. Houts pulled over a driver for speeding on North Decatur Street. He was approaching the car when the driver fired several shots into his body. His protective vest caught all but one bullet. In September, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Truman M. Hobbs Jr. sentenced Mario Woodward to death for the shooting. State Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said the bill includes an "affirmative defense," which he said allows people to drive slowly and pull over into well-lit areas. The officer, he said, must make an obvious attempt to stop the suspect. There is a sliding scale for the punishment, Ward said. He said evading an officer becomes a felony when it "creates a risk of death or injury." Law enforcement agencies throughout the state support the bill including the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police, the Alabama District Attorney's Association and the Alabama Sheriffs Association. Attorney General Troy King and top officials at the Montgomery Police Department and Montgomery County Sheriffs Office also support the proposal. They said high-speed pursuits endanger the lives of officers, innocent bystanders and the suspect. There is also a high potential for property damage. Ward said the bill is intended to be a deterrent and create a safer environment for traffic stops. Rep. Yusuf Salaam, D-Selma, said that he wants to know, when lawmakers look at "feel-good legislation" how it would affect the number of people going into the state's overcrowded prison system. He said saying whether the bill would be a deterrent is speculative. Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said he deals with law enforcement daily and those who evade officers often have a long list of run-ins with the law. He said he was unsure if the bill would deter those individuals. And, if evading is now going to be a felony, England said that might give them another reason to flee. Ward asked why lawmakers should not create a greater penalty for people who run from the law, subsequently endangering the lives of others, just like they do with people who resist arrest. The judiciary committee also passed a "notoriety bill" to try to stop prisoners who have been convicted of crimes from profiting from those acts while they are incarcerated.
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