CRS 42-4-1413 – Eluding a Police Officer in Colorado

Q: What is eluding a police officer in Colorado?

A driver commits eluding when the following three conditions are met: 1) A police officer in a marked vehicle signals a driver to pull over (such as through a siren or red light); 2) The police officer reasonably believes the driver has broken a local or state law; and 3) The driver deliberately tries to shake off the police (such as by speeding up or turning off the car lights).

Q: What is the penalty under CRS 42-4-1413?

Eluding a police officer is a class 2 misdemeanor offense. The punishment includes $150 to $300 in fines, and/or 10 to 90 days in jail.

Q: How can the charge be fought?

How best to fight eluding charges turns on the specific facts of the case. Three possible defenses include: 1) The defendant pulled over and never eluded the police. 2) The defendant did not realize the police were there. 3) The police had no reason to believe the defendant was in violation of the law.

Q: What if the defendant is an immigrant?

Courts could consider eluding to be a crime involving moral turpitude and therefore a deportable offense. Non-citizens charged with eluding should consult an attorney immediately to try to get the charge reduced to a non-deportable offense or dismissed altogether.

Q: When can the criminal record be sealed?

Misdemeanor traffic offense convictions remain on the defendant's record forever. They cannot be sealed. But if the charge gets dismissed, then the defendant can petition for a record seal immediately.

Police chase? When is it a felony to elude police in Colorado?

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CRS 42-4-1413 is the Colorado law prohibiting drivers from eluding – or attempting to elude – a police car that is signaling for the driver to pull over. As a class 2 traffic misdemeanor, eluding carries $150 to $300 in fines, and/or 10 to 90 days in jail. Common defenses are that the driver did not realize the officers were there, or the driver thought the police were targeting someone else.

CRS 42-4-1413 states:

Any operator of a motor vehicle who the officer has reasonable grounds to believe has violated a state law or municipal ordinance, who has received a visual or audible signal such as a red light or a siren from a police officer driving a marked vehicle showing the same to be an official police, sheriff, or Colorado state patrol car directing the operator to bring the operator’s vehicle to a stop, and who willfully increases his or her speed or extinguishes his or her lights in an attempt to elude such police officer, or willfully attempts in any other manner to elude the police officer, or does elude such police officer commits a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense.

In this article, our Denver Colorado criminal defense attorneys discuss:

Police car chasing a driver on the highway

CRS 42-4-1413 makes it a crime for drivers to elude – or try to elude – a police vehicle.

1. What is eluding a police officer in Colorado?

A driver commits eluding when the following three conditions are met:

A police officer in a marked vehicle signals a driver to pull over (such as through a siren or red light);
The police officer reasonably believes the driver has broken a local or state law; and
The driver deliberately tries to shake off the police (such as by speeding up or turning off the car lights)¹

It makes no difference whether the driver successfully evades the police. Merely attempting to elude the police is a crime. Examples of eluding may include:

speeding up,
turning off the car lights, and/or
getting out of the car and fleeing on foot²

Note that eluding is a less serious crime than vehicular eluding (CRS 18-9-116.5). Vehicular eluding is when motorists drive recklessly and attempt to escape a police car (whether marked or not). Examples include such dangerous behaviors as driving over a medium or going over unpaved road.³

2. What is the penalty under CRS 42-4-1413?

Eluding a police officer is a class 2 misdemeanor offense. The punishment includes:

$150 to $300 in fines, and/or
10 to 90 days in jail⁴

Car eluding a police vehicle at night as an example of a violation of CRS 42-4-1413

Eluding police is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense in Colorado.

3. How can the charge be fought?

How best to fight eluding charges turns on the specific facts of the case. Three possible defenses include:

The defendant pulled over and never eluded the police. Sometimes police arrest drivers for eluding when they fail to pull over immediately after being signaled. But oftentimes these drivers need to travel for another block or longer until it is safe for a traffic stop. As long as the defendant pulled over as soon as it was reasonably safe, then no eluding occurred.⁵
The defendant did not realize the police were there. The defendant may not have realized the police were signaling the defendant to pull over. Perhaps the defendant did not hear the siren over loud music playing in the car. Or perhaps the defendant thought the police were trying to pull over a different driver. Perhaps the defendant was simply daydreaming. Unless the prosecutor can show the defendant intentionally eluded the police, then the charge should be dropped.
The police had no reason to believe the defendant was in violation of the law. Defendants can be convicted of eluding only if the police were justified in making a traffic stop in the first place. If the defense attorney can show the police tried to initiate a traffic stop without reasonable suspicion (or for an illegal reason such as racial profiling), the case should be dismissed.

4. What if the defendant is an immigrant?

Courts could consider eluding to be a crime involving moral turpitude and therefore a deportable offense.⁶ Non-citizens charged with eluding should consult an attorney immediately to try to get the charge reduced to a non-deportable offense or dismissed altogether. Learn more about the criminal defense of immigrants in Colorado.

5. When can the criminal record be sealed?

Misdemeanor traffic offense convictions remain on the defendant’s record forever. They cannot be sealed. But if the charge gets dismissed, then the defendant can petition for a record seal immediately.⁷ Learn how to seal Colorado criminal records.

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Contact our law firm for legal advice. We offer free consultations.

In California? See our article on California eluding laws (Vehicle Code 2800.1 VC).

In Nevada? See our article on Nevada eluding laws (NRS 484B.550).

Legal References

CRS 42-4-1413; see also People v. McMinn (2013) COA 94, 412 P.3d 551.
People v. Espinoza (Colo. App. 2008) 195 P.3d 1122.
See also People v. Pena (Colo. App. 1997) 962 P.2d 285; People v. Esparza-Treto (Colo. App. 2011) 282 P.3d 471 (eluding is not a lesser-included offense of vehicular eluding).
CRS 42.4.1413; CRS 42-4-1701.
People v. Procasky (2019) COA 181, — P.3d —.
Matter of Ruiz-Lopez (BIA 2011) 25 I&N Dec. 551; 8 USC 1227.
CRS 24-72-703-6.

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