Manhattan Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright today unveiled legislation that would require wireless phone companies to immediately respond to law enforcement requests for location information from crime victims who are in jeopardy of death or serious physical harm.

"Passing the Kelsey Smith Act in New York would have enabled police to respond more immediately to the plight of a Max Torgovnick of Manhattan and his elderly mother who were attacked in their car last month by a marauding gang of teenage bikers on Fifth Avenue," Seawright said.

Seawright said the bill is based on similar legislation passed in 27 states and named after Kelsey Smith, an 18-year-old Kansas woman abducted and killed after a mobile telephone company took more than three days to provide police with the requested location information.

Video footage of the attacks on the Torgovnicks shows a group of young bicyclists surrounding Torgovnick's SUV and hurling their bodies and bikes onto the vehicle. The attackers finally retreat after one propelled himself onto the hood and smashed the windshield. Torgovnick, of the Upper East Side, was behind the wheel. His mother was making desperate calls to 911.

"When they smashed the glass, at that point, my biggest fear was, they're going to get in the car, they're going to pull me out, and I could be killed," Torgovnick said. "All I could hear was my mother crying and screaming. That's what haunts me the most."

The Kelsey Smith Act bill would require that wireless phone companies immediately respond to law enforcement requests and improve coordination between law enforcement agencies and wireless cell phone carriers during emergencies involving missing persons.

Kelsey Smith was abducted in broad daylight from Target department store in Overland, Kansas, in June of 2007. About three hours after Kelsey was abducted, police found her car in the Target parking lot.

Her family and friends joined in the search while authorities identified a signal, or a "ping," from her mobile phone. Law enforcement officials sought "ping" records from the mobile phone provider to pinpoint her precise location. The provider compiled three and a half days later. Upon receipt of the data, the police located Kelsey's body within 45 minutes. The investigation revealed that she had been sexually assaulted.

Kelsey's parents, Missey and Greg Smith, have been behind a national effort to pass the legislation in their daughter's name.

"If your child was missing, would you not want law enforcement to have every tool available to find your child? The Kelsey Smith Act provides just that," they said in a statement, "We want to thank Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright for recognizing the importance of this and working with us to enact this life-saving legislation in New York."

"Kelsey's story is not the first time that a tragedy could have been prevented if cell phone companies had turned over their records to help find missing persons," said Seawright, who represents the Upper East Side, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island. "Passing the Kelsey Smith Act will save lives. In an abduction or an emergency, law enforcement must act quickly, which is why we need wireless carriers to cooperate."