Dayton Lawmakers' Police-Pursuit and Street-Racing Law: What It Means When a Chase or Stunt Driver Hurts Someone

Published October 29, 2024 · New Laws

Last Thursday, October 24, 2024, a new Ohio law written by two Montgomery County legislators took effect. House Bill 56 changes how police departments must handle vehicle pursuits, makes fleeing from an officer a felony, and creates new offenses for stunt driving and "street takeovers." Anyone who has watched a chase tear through a neighborhood, or a crowd of cars spin doughnuts in an intersection, knows why.

The bill is a criminal and administrative law. It does not create a new right to sue. But it changes the evidence available when a fleeing driver, a pursuing officer, or a stunt driver injures an innocent person, and that matters for families in the Dayton area.

The bill and its sponsors

Substitute House Bill 56 of the 135th General Assembly was sponsored by Rep. Phil Plummer and Rep. Andrea White, both of whom represent parts of Montgomery County. It cleared the House in December 2023 and the Senate on June 26, 2024, was signed on July 24, 2024, and took effect October 24, 2024.

Change 1: Every police agency needs a written pursuit policy, and training on it

Under the amended R.C. 2935.031, every law enforcement entity in Ohio must adopt a written policy for motor-vehicle pursuits. In developing it, the agency must consider the pursuit standards and best-practice recommendations of the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board or a similar accrediting body. And the chief must formally advise and train every officer on the policy.

Many departments already had pursuit policies. The difference now is that a written policy, based on recognized standards and backed by documented training, is a legal requirement for every agency.

Change 2: Fleeing police is now a felony

Before H.B. 56, willfully fleeing or eluding an officer after a signal to stop was generally a first-degree misdemeanor under R.C. 2921.331, with felony levels reserved for specific aggravating facts. As amended:

• Willful fleeing is a fourth-degree felony in the ordinary case.
• It is a third-degree felony if the driver was fleeing immediately after committing a felony, or if the driving caused serious physical harm to persons or property or created a substantial risk of it.
• A felony fleeing conviction carries a mandatory license suspension, and the court cannot grant limited driving privileges on it.

Change 3: Stunt driving and street takeovers

The amended R.C. 4511.251 keeps the street-racing offense and adds two more:

• Stunt driving means burnouts, doughnuts, drifting or wheelies, or letting a passenger ride partly or fully outside the vehicle.
• Street takeover means blocking or impeding the normal flow of vehicle or pedestrian traffic, on a public road or on private property open to the public, for street racing or stunt driving.

Each is a first-degree misdemeanor with a mandatory license suspension of at least 30 days and up to three years, and those who help are charged the same as the drivers. Under the amended R.C. 4510.036, a conviction now adds six points to the driver's record.

The bill also adds utility vehicles and mini-trucks to Ohio's vehicular homicide and vehicular assault statutes.

What H.B. 56 does not do

It is important to be precise. H.B. 56 does not create a new civil claim against police departments, and it does not change the immunity statute that governs claims against cities, counties and townships. Ohio's immunity law, R.C. Chapter 2744, still provides that a political subdivision is generally liable for its employees' negligent driving, but that an officer responding to an emergency call has a full defense unless the driving was "willful or wanton misconduct." R.C. 2744.02(B)(5) also says civil liability is not created merely because a statute imposes a mandatory duty on a political subdivision. So a department's failure to adopt a policy is not, by itself, a lawsuit.

Why it still matters for injured people

The policy is evidence. In a pursuit-crash case against a city, the central question is often whether the officers' conduct crossed the line into willful or wanton misconduct. A written pursuit policy, developed against recognized standards and drilled into every officer, shows what the department itself considered reasonable: when to start a chase, when to call it off, what speeds and conditions are too dangerous. When officers ignore their own policy and an innocent person is hurt, that departure is powerful evidence. Training records show what each officer was taught.

We have seen how much this matters. In May I wrote about Cleveland's $4.8 million settlement with the family of a 13-year-old girl killed by a car fleeing police. In July the Ohio Supreme Court ordered East Cleveland to pay a $20 million verdict, confirming that judgments against cities must be paid. Our page on claims against the government explains the immunity rules and their exceptions.

The fleeing driver is the first target. In most pursuit crashes, the driver who ran from police bears primary responsibility. A felony fleeing conviction, especially the third-degree version for causing serious harm, is strong evidence of the reckless conduct that can support punitive damages.

Stunt drivers and takeover participants can be held responsible. A conviction for stunt driving or street takeover, and the statute's rule that helpers are charged like participants, can help identify everyone who contributed to a crash, not just the driver whose car made contact.

Your own coverage may matter most. Fleeing drivers and street racers are often uninsured or underinsured. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may be the most reliable source of recovery.

What to do if you are hurt

Pursuit and takeover crashes generate evidence that disappears quickly: cruiser dash-camera and body-camera video, dispatch audio, GPS and speed data from police vehicles, the pursuit policy and training records, and bystander phone video posted to social media. Our guide chapter on gathering evidence while it still exists explains how preservation letters and public-records requests secure it. Claims against a political subdivision also have their own two-year deadline.

What this means for you

If a police chase, a fleeing driver, or a street takeover caused your injury or a loved one's death, the new law gives you better tools to prove what went wrong. It does not do the work for you. Identifying every responsible party, from the fleeing driver to the department that may have ignored its own policy, takes early investigation. Our Dayton car accident lawyer page explains how we build crash cases. As a former Dayton police sergeant, I know how pursuits are supposed to be run and what the paperwork should show.