Current through codified legislation effective September 18, 2024
Section 22-1314.02 - Prohibited acts(a) It shall be unlawful for a person, except as otherwise authorized by District or federal law, alone or in concert with others, to willfully or recklessly interfere with access to or from a medical facility or to willfully or recklessly disrupt the normal functioning of such facility by: (1) Physically obstructing, impeding, or hindering the free passage of an individual seeking to enter or depart the facility or from the common areas of the real property upon which the facility is located;(2) Making noise that unreasonably disturbs the peace within the facility;(3) Trespassing on the facility or the common areas of the real property upon which the facility is located;(4) Telephoning the facility repeatedly to harass or threaten owners, agents, patients, and employees, or knowingly permitting any telephone under his or her control to be so used for the purpose of threatening owners, agents, patients, and employees; or(5) Threatening to inflict injury on the owners, agents, patients, employees, or property of the medical facility or knowingly permitting any telephone under his or her control to be used for such purpose.(b) A person shall not act alone or in concert with others with the intent to prevent a health professional or his or her family from entering or leaving the health professional's home.(c) Subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall not be construed to prohibit any otherwise lawful picketing or assembly.(d) Any person who violates subsections (a) or (b) of this section, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than the amount set forth in § 22-3571.01, imprisoned for not more than 180 days, or both.July 29, 1892, 27 Stat. 322, ch. 320, § 11b; as added Sept. 20, 1996, D.C. Law 11-157, § 2, 43 DCR 3699; June 11, 2013, D.C. Law 19-317, § 214(c), 60 DCR 2064.Applicability of D.C. Law 19-317: Section 401 of D.C. Law 19-317 provided that the act shall apply only to offenses committed on or after June 11, 2013.