(a) No person shall fail to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer invested with authority to direct, control or regulate traffic.
(b) No person shall operate a motor vehicle so as willfully to elude or flee a police officer after receiving a visible or audible signal from a police officer to bring the person’s motor vehicle to a stop.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Refer to Ohio R.C. 2921.331 for filing charges under subsection (b) hereof since the jury or judge as trier of fact may determine the violation to be a felony.)
(c) Whoever violates this section is guilty of failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer. A violation of subsection (a) is a misdemeanor of the first degree. Except as hereinafter provided, a violation of subsection (b) is a misdemeanor of the first degree. A violation of subsection (b) is a felony if the jury or judge as trier of fact finds any one of the following by proof beyond a reasonable doubt:
(1) In committing the offense, the offender was fleeing immediately after the commission of a felony;
(2) The operation of the motor vehicle by the offender was a proximate cause of serious physical harm to persons or property;
(3) The operation of the motor vehicle by the offender caused a substantial risk of serious physical harm to persons or property.
(d) In addition to any other sanction imposed for a violation of subsection (a) of this section or a misdemeanor violation of subsection (b) of this section, the court shall impose a class five suspension from the range specified in Ohio R.C. 4510.02(A)(5). If the offender previously has been found guilty of an offense under this section, in addition to any other sanction imposed for the offense, the court shall impose a class one suspension as described in division (A)(1) of that section. The court may grant limited driving privileges to the offender on a suspension imposed for a misdemeanor violation of this section as set forth in Ohio R.C. 4510.021. No judge shall suspend the first three years of suspension under a class two suspension of an offender’s license, permit or privilege required by this division on any portion of the suspension under a class one suspension of an offender’s license, permit, or privilege required by this subsection.
(ORC 2921.331)