(a) A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the second degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless, such person gratuitously reports to a law enforcement officer or agency (1) the alleged occurrence of an offense or incident which did not in fact occur, (2) an allegedly impending occurrence of an offense or incident which in fact is not about to occur, (3) false information relating to an actual offense or incident or to the alleged implication of some person therein, or (4) violates subdivision (1), (2) or (3) of this subsection with specific intent to falsely report another person or group of persons because of the actual or perceived race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of such other person or group of persons.
(b) Falsely reporting an incident in the second degree is a (1) class A misdemeanor for a violation of subdivision (1), (2) or (3) of subsection (a) of this section, or (2) class E felony for a violation of subdivision (4) of subsection (a) of this section.