Section 2180 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

Someone commits an act willfully when he or she does it willingly or on
purpose. It is not required that he or she intend to break the law, hurt
someone else, or gain any advantage.
[A serious bodily injury means a serious impairment of physical
condition. Such an injury may include[, but is not limited to]: (loss of
consciousness/ concussion/ bone fracture/ protracted loss or impairment
of function of any bodily member or organ/ a wound requiring extensive
suturing/ [and] serious disfigurement).]
A vehicle is distinctively marked if it has features that are reasonably
noticeable to other drivers, including a red lamp, siren, and at least one
other feature that makes it look different from vehicles that are not used
for law enforcement purposes.
A distinctive uniform means clothing adopted by a law enforcement
agency to identify or distinguish members of its force. The uniform does
not have to be complete or of any particular level of formality. However,
a badge, without more, is not enough.
[An act causes (death/ [or] serious bodily injury) if the (death/ [or]
injury) is the direct, natural, and probable consequence of the act and
the (death/ [or] injury) would not have happened without the act. A
natural and probable consequence is one that a reasonable person would
know is likely to happen if nothing unusual intervenes. In deciding
whether a consequence is natural and probable, consider all the
circumstances established by the evidence.]
[There may be more than one cause of (death/ [or] serious bodily
injury). An act causes (death/ [or] injury) only if it is a substantial factor
in causing the (death/ [or] injury). A substantial factor is more than a
trivial or remote factor. However, it need not be the only factor that
causes the (death/ [or] injury).]
New January 2006; Revised August 2006
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this instruction defining the elements of the
crime.
If causation is at issue, the court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on proximate
cause. (People v. Bernhardt (1963) 222 Cal.App.2d 567, 590–591 [35 Cal.Rptr.
401].) If the evidence indicates that there was only one cause of death or injury, the
court should give the “direct, natural, and probable” language in the first bracketed
paragraph on causation. If there is evidence of multiple causes of death or injury,
the court should also give the “substantial factor” instruction in the second
CALCRIM No. 2180
VEHICLE OFFENSES
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