THE CRIME OF RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

In addition to assault, harassment, and violations of no-contact orders, reckless endangerment is another crime that is frequently charged as domestic violence. Washington State law defines reckless endangerment as an act of recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to anther person. There used to be two degrees of reckless endangerment, but what used to be 1st degree reckless endangerment is now called "drive-by shooting." In all other cases not amounting to a drive-by shooting, a person will be charged with reckless endangerment, which is a gross misdemeanor.

An important thing to remember about this charge is the element of intent. To be charged with this crime, you do not have to intend to commit any act that may cause harm to someone else; you merely need to act recklessly. What does "reckless" mean? Ultimately, that is a question for the jury. In criminal law we have three different levels of intent: criminal negligence, recklessness, and malice. "Criminal negligence" is a gross deviation from the ordinary care you would expect the average person to exercise. "Malice" means that you specifically intended to commit a certain act or crime. "Recklessness" falls somewhere in between criminal negligence and malice.

So although it is a crime where no one is actually harmed, reckless endangerment is not an attempt crime like attempted murder. That is because you only need to be acting recklessly- no specific intent to carry out any act is necessary to be charged with this crime.

It is also important to note that the Washington statute says that reckless endangerment means you created a substantial risk of serious bodily injury. That means you must of created a risk of harm that is beyond the sort of harm that occurs in a 4th degree assault.

Another important thing to note about the crime of reckless endangerment is that you can be charged mulitple times for a single act if you created a substantial risk of serious harm to more than one person. In State v. Graham, the Washington State Supreme Court held that charging a person more than once for a single act is constitutional and separate charges can be justified when more than one person is endangered.

Let's say you are driving a vehicle with your spouse and three children after leaving a holiday party. Let's say you had a few drinks at the party and your blood alcohol content is .28. A police officer notices you swerving on the road and decides to stop you. Here, in addition to DUI, you could be charged with FOUR counts of reckless endangerment- one for each passenger. Not only that, but the charges would be considered to be domestic violence because the victims here are family members.

Whether or not the charges of reckless endangerment would stand depends on whether your driving and whether your level of intoxication rose beyond criminal negligence to the level of recklessness and whether the risk you created to the passengers in your vehicle was substantial.