Definition

• Evading arrest occurs when a person knowingly flees from identified law enforcement personnel. The suspect should know the officer plans to make an arrest or the suspect may have already been arrested. Prosecution can consider evading arrest an aggravating factor and use it to enhance sentencing.
  
  

Penalty

• California statutes, for example, specifically prohibit evading arrest or fleeing from a law enforcement officer in a car or on a bike. The suspect will be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.
  
  

Enhanced Sentence

• In Texas, the evader will received a felony charge if she has a previous conviction for evading arrest or if someone suffers serious injury or dies during the process of her evasion.