By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Max’s Law, made official during a bill signing in Jefferson City this week, was part of a huge anti-crime bill approved during this past legislative session.
Gov. Mike Parson has signed into law the massive public safety measure that included Max’s Law, named after St. Joseph’s K-9 Max killed in the line of duty in the summer of 2021.
State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville carried the bill the last three years and finally got to see it signed into law as K-9 units from throughout the state stood by.
“We had different departments, both police departments, sheriff’s departments, the Highway Patrol, the Conservation Department,” Luetkemeyer tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “They all had police K-9s there for the signing of the bill. And so, it was really great to have the animals who we’re trying to protect in this legislation to have some representatives from the K-9 community at the bill signing.”
Max’s Law was only a portion of the bill. Several amendments made it onto the bill, including a provision called Blair’s Law.
“Blair’s Law outlaws celebratory gunfire, something that we see a lot of the times during either during the 4th of July or New Year’s Eve as people will indiscriminately fire bullets up into the air and sometimes those bullets will come down and strike and injure or kill another person.”
It is named for 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane, struck and killed by July 4th celebratory gunfire in Independence 13 years ago. Blair’s mother, Michelle Shanahan DeMoss, lobbied hard for passage of the bill, driving to Jefferson City year after year to testify before committees and talk with lawmakers.
Another provision of the bill contains Valentine’s Law.
“Named after Antonio Valentine, who was a police officer in St. Louis County. He was killed in the line of duty in a high-speed chase. What Valentine’s Law does is it creates a separate felony offense for fleeing from law enforcement in an automobile,” Luetkemeyer says. “One of the things we know is that when people engage in these high-speed chases with law enforcement it poses a huge risk to public safety for everybody else out on the road.”
St. Louis County Police Officer Antonio Valentine died from his injuries after being hit by a fleeing vehicle on December 1st of 2021. He was 42 years old.
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