Vehicular assault is charged under New York Penal Law section 120.03 where impaired or intoxicated operation causes serious physical injury, and it converts what began as a traffic stop into a felony prosecution.

Is This a Criminal Charge or a Traffic Infraction

This is a criminal charge, not a traffic infraction. The underlying operation is charged under Vehicle and Traffic Law section 1192, which sets out impairment by alcohol, intoxication at a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more for non-commercial operators, aggravated driving while intoxicated at 0.18 or more, common-law intoxication regardless of the reading, impairment by drugs, and impairment by a combination of the two. A first section 1192 offense is a misdemeanor and a prior conviction within ten years makes it a felony. Section 120.03 is a separate Penal Law charge that requires the impaired operation plus serious physical injury caused by it, and both charges can be pending at once.

Penalties, Fines and Jail Exposure

Vehicular assault is a felony. The Penal Law assigns a grade to the offense, and the grade sets the range the sentencing court works within. Because the grade can turn on which subdivision is charged and on prior history, the exposure in a particular case should be confirmed against the current text of the section named in the accusatory instrument rather than taken from any general description.

License Suspension and DMV Points

A section 1192 charge triggers an administrative license proceeding at arraignment, and a suspension can take effect before any conviction. The Department of Motor Vehicles administers license consequences on its own schedule and under its own rules. A criminal disposition does not resolve the administrative matter, and the two can produce different results.

How the Charge Is Proven

The People must prove three things that are genuinely distinct: that the driver was impaired or intoxicated within the meaning of section 1192, that the complainant sustained serious physical injury as the Penal Law defines that term, and that the impaired operation caused the injury. Each is separately contestable. Serious physical injury has a statutory definition narrower than ordinary usage — an injury that required treatment is not automatically within it. Causation requires connecting the impairment to the collision, and intoxication alone does not establish that a sober driver would have avoided it. Event data recorder downloads, roadway geometry, sight lines, the conduct of other drivers and the mechanism of injury all bear on that question.

Defenses That Work on This Charge

• Contesting causation, which requires linking the impairment to the collision rather than merely establishing both.
• Testing whether the injury meets the statutory definition of serious physical injury.
• Challenging the breath or blood testing, including instrument maintenance records, operator certification and the observation period.
• Litigating the lawfulness of the stop, since everything that follows depends on it.
• Obtaining the event data recorder download and an independent reconstruction before the vehicles are released.

If You Are an Out-of-State Driver

New York reports the outcome to the licensing state, and the home state then applies its own rules to what it receives. A charge that carries one consequence in New York can carry a different one at home, and the home-state consequence is frequently the more disruptive of the two. An out-of-state driver also faces the practical problem of appearing at a New York courthouse repeatedly over a case that may run many months.

CDL and Professional License Consequences

A commercial driver faces federal disqualification rules that operate independently of the criminal case and that apply lower thresholds than those governing non-commercial operators. Disqualification can follow from the disposition without any separate proceeding. For a driver whose livelihood depends on the license, that consequence is frequently more significant than the sentence, and it belongs in the analysis from the first appearance.

What to Expect in Court

The felony is arraigned in the criminal court of the county and proceeds toward grand jury presentation, while the section 1192 charge and the administrative license matter run alongside it. Vehicles are held only briefly before release, which makes early access to them one of the few genuinely time-limited steps in the case.

Frequently Asked Questions

What blood alcohol concentration matters in New York?

Vehicle and Traffic Law section 1192 sets 0.08 or more for non-commercial operators and 0.18 or more for aggravated driving while intoxicated. There is also a common-law intoxication provision that does not depend on a numerical reading.

Does intoxication alone prove vehicular assault?

No. The People must also prove serious physical injury as the Penal Law defines it and that the impaired operation caused that injury. Causation is a separate element and is frequently the weakest part of the case.

Will my license be suspended before trial?

A section 1192 charge triggers an administrative proceeding at arraignment, and a suspension can take effect before any conviction. That matter is administered by the Department of Motor Vehicles separately from the criminal case.

About Mr. Sris

Mr. Sris is the founding attorney of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., a firm practicing since 1997. He is a former prosecutor and is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and New York. Of Counsel attorneys contract directly with the firm and handle matters alongside him.

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Last reviewed: August 24, 2026.

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