As Reported by the Senate Judiciary--Criminal Justice Committee

125th General Assembly
Regular Session
2003-2004
Sub. S. B. No. 57


Senators Jacobson, Armbruster, Randy Gardner, Goodman, Harris, Stivers, Herington 



A BILL
To amend sections 2917.04 and 2917.13 and to enact 1
section 2917.031 of the Revised Code to increase 2
the penalty under specified circumstances for 3
failure to disperse and misconduct at an emergency 4
and to clarify the required proof for the offenses 5
of riot and aggravated riot.6


BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

       Section 1. That sections 2917.04 and 2917.13 be amended and 7
section 2917.031 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as 8
follows:9

       Sec. 2917.031. For the purposes of prosecuting violations of 10
sections 2917.02 and 2917.03 of the Revised Code, the state is not 11
required to allege or prove that the offender expressly agreed 12
with four or more others to commit any act that constitutes a 13
violation of either section prior to or while committing those 14
acts.15

       Sec. 2917.04.  (A) Where five or more persons are 16
participating in a course of disorderly conduct in violation of 17
section 2917.11 of the Revised Code, and there are other persons 18
in the vicinity whose presence creates the likelihood of physical 19
harm to persons or property or of serious public inconvenience,20
annoyance, or alarm, a law enforcement officer or other public 21
official may order the participants and such other persons to 22
disperse. No person shall knowingly fail to obey such order.23

       (B) Nothing in this section requires persons to disperse who 24
are peaceably assembled for a lawful purpose.25

       (C)(1) Whoever violates this section is guilty of failure to 26
disperse,.27

       (2) Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(3) of this 28
section, failure to disperse is a minor misdemeanor.29

       (3) Failure to disperse is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree 30
if any of the following apply:31

       (a) The failure to obey the order described in division (A) 32
of this section hampers the lawful operations of any law 33
enforcement officer, firefighter, rescuer, medical person, 34
emergency medical services person, or other authorized person who 35
is engaged in the person's duties at the scene of a fire, 36
accident, disaster, riot, or emergency of any kind.37

       (b) The failure to obey the order described in division (A) 38
of this section hampers the lawful activities of any emergency 39
facility person who is engaged in the person's duties in an 40
emergency facility.41

       (c) The offender fails to obey the lawful order of any law 42
enforcement officer engaged in the law enforcement officer's 43
duties at the scene of or in connection with a fire, accident, 44
disaster, riot, or emergency of any kind.45

       (D) As used in this section: 46

       (1) "Emergency medical services person" is the singular of 47
"emergency medical services personnel" as defined in section 48
2133.21 of the Revised Code.49

       (2) "Emergency facility person" is the singular of "emergency 50
facility personnel" as defined in section 2909.04 of the Revised 51
Code. 52

       (3) "Emergency facility" has the same meaning as in section 53
2909.04 of the Revised Code. 54

       Sec. 2917.13.  (A) No person shall knowingly do any of the55
following:56

       (1) Hamper the lawful operations of any law enforcement57
officer, firefighter, rescuer, medical person, emergency medical58
services person, or other authorized person, engaged in the59
person's duties at the scene of a fire, accident, disaster, riot,60
or emergency of any kind;61

       (2) Hamper the lawful activities of any emergency facility62
person who is engaged in the person's duties in an emergency63
facility;64

       (3) Fail to obey the lawful order of any law enforcement65
officer engaged in the law enforcement officer's duties at the66
scene of or in connection with a fire, accident, disaster, riot,67
or emergency of any kind.68

       (B) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit69
access or deny information to any news media representative in the70
lawful exercise of the news media representative's duties.71

       (C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of misconduct at72
an emergency. Except as otherwise provided in this division,73
misconduct at an emergency is a minor misdemeanor of the fourth 74
degree. If a violation of this section creates a risk of physical75
harm to persons or property, misconduct at an emergency is a 76
misdemeanor of the first degree.77

       (D) As used in this section:78

       (1) "Emergency medical services person" is the singular of79
"emergency medical services personnel" as defined in section80
2133.21 of the Revised Code.81

       (2) "Emergency facility person" is the singular of "emergency82
facility personnel" as defined in section 2909.04 of the Revised83
Code.84

       (3) "Emergency facility" has the same meaning as in section85
2909.04 of the Revised Code.86

       Section 2. That existing sections 2917.04 and 2917.13 of the 87
Revised Code are hereby repealed.88