(A) No person, without privilege to do so, shall recklessly obstruct any highway, street, sidewalk, or any other public passage in such a manner as to render the highway, street, sidewalk, or passage impassable without unreasonable inconvenience or hazard if both of the following apply:

Attorney's Note

Under the Ohio Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Misdemeanor of the first degreeup to 180 daysup to $1,000
For details, see Ohio Code § 2929.24(A)

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Terms Used In Ohio Code 2917.14

  • Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Whoever: includes all persons, natural and artificial; partners; principals, agents, and employees; and all officials, public or private. See Ohio Code 1.02

(1) The obstruction prevents an emergency vehicle from accessing a highway or street, prevents an emergency service responder from responding to an emergency, or prevents an emergency vehicle or an emergency service responder from having access to an exit from an emergency.

(2) Upon receipt of a request or order from an emergency service responder to remove or cease the obstruction, the person refuses to remove or cease the obstruction.

(B) Division (A) of this section does not limit or affect the application of section 2921.31 of the Revised Code or any other section of the Revised Code. Any conduct that is a violation of division (A) of this section and that also is a violation of section 2921.31 of the Revised Code or any other section of the Revised Code may be prosecuted under this section, the other section, or both sections.

(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of unlawfully impeding public passage of an emergency service responder, a misdemeanor of the first degree.

(D) As used in this section, “emergency service responder” has the same meaning as in section 2921.01 of the Revised Code.

Last updated February 27, 2023 at 10:55 AM