(a) No person shall cause the evacuation of any public place, or otherwise cause serious public inconvenience or alarm, by doing any of the following:
(1) Initiating or circulating a report or warning of an alleged or impending fire, explosion, crime or other catastrophe, knowing that such report or warning is false;
(2) Threatening to commit any offense of violence;
(3) Committing any offense, with reckless disregard of the likelihood that its commission will cause serious public inconvenience or alarm.
(b) Division (a) hereof does not apply to any person conducting an authorized fire or emergency drill.
(c) Whoever violates this section is guilty of inducing panic, a misdemeanor of the first degree. If inducing panic results in physical harm to any person, economic harm of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more, if the public place involved in a violation of this section is a school or an institution of higher education, or if the violation pertains to a purported, threatened or actual use of a weapon of mass destruction, inducing panic is a felony and shall be prosecuted under appropriate State law.
(d) Any act that is a violation of this section and any other section of the Codified Ordinances may be prosecuted under this section, the other section, or both sections.
(e) As used in this section:
(1) “Economic harm” means any of the following:
A. All direct, incidental, and consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim as a result of criminal conduct. “Economic harm” as described in this division includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
1. All wages, salaries, or other compensation lost as a result of the criminal conduct;
2. The cost of all wages, salaries, or other compensation paid to employees for time those employees are prevented from working as a result of the criminal conduct;
3. The overhead costs incurred for the time that a business is shut down as a result of the criminal conduct;
4. The loss of value to tangible or intangible property that was damaged as a result of the criminal conduct.
B. All costs incurred by the Municipality as a result of, or in making any response to, the criminal conduct that constituted the violation of this section or Section 509.07, including, but not limited to, all costs so incurred by any law enforcement officers, firefighters, rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel of the state or the political subdivision.
(2) “School” means any school operated by a board of education or any school for which the state board of education prescribes minimum standards under Ohio R.C. 3301.07, whether or not any instruction, extracurricular activities, or training provided by the school is being conducted at the time a violation of this section is committed.
(3) “Weapon of mass destruction” means any of the following:
A. Any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious physical harm through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors;
B. Any weapon involving a disease organism or biological agent;
C. Any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life;
D. Any of the following, except to the extent that the item or device in question is expressly excepted from the definition of “destructive device” pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(4) and regulations issued under that section:
1. Any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, mine, or similar device;
2. Any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any item or device into any item or device described in division (e)(3)D.1. of this section and from which an item or device described in that division may be readily assembled.
(4) “Biological agent” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 2917.33.
(5) “Emergency medical services personnel” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 2133.21.
(6) “Institution of higher education” means any of the following:
A. A state university or college as defined in Ohio R.C. 3345.12(A)(1), community college, state community college, university branch, or technical college;
B. A private, nonprofit college, university or other post-secondary institution located in this State that possesses a certificate of authorization issued by the Ohio Board of Regents pursuant to Ohio R.C. Chapter 1713.
C. A post-secondary institution with a certificate of registration issued by the State Board of Career Colleges and Schools under Ohio R.C. Chapter 3332.
(ORC 2917.31)
(ORC 2917.31)