2006 Ohio Revised Code - 2917.11. Disorderly conduct.

§ 2917.11. Disorderly conduct.
 

(A)  No person shall recklessly cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to another by doing any of the following: 

(1) Engaging in fighting, in threatening harm to persons or property, or in violent or turbulent behavior; 

(2) Making unreasonable noise or an offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display or communicating unwarranted and grossly abusive language to any person; 

(3) Insulting, taunting, or challenging another, under circumstances in which that conduct is likely to provoke a violent response; 

(4) Hindering or preventing the movement of persons on a public street, road, highway, or right-of-way, or to, from, within, or upon public or private property, so as to interfere with the rights of others, and by any act that serves no lawful and reasonable purpose of the offender; 

(5) Creating a condition that is physically offensive to persons or that presents a risk of physical harm to persons or property, by any act that serves no lawful and reasonable purpose of the offender. 

(B)  No person, while voluntarily intoxicated, shall do either of the following: 

(1) In a public place or in the presence of two or more persons, engage in conduct likely to be offensive or to cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to persons of ordinary sensibilities, which conduct the offender, if the offender were not intoxicated, should know is likely to have that effect on others; 

(2) Engage in conduct or create a condition that presents a risk of physical harm to the offender or another, or to the property of another. 

(C)  Violation of any statute or ordinance of which an element is operating a motor vehicle, locomotive, watercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or any drug of abuse, is not a violation of division (B) of this section. 

(D)  If a person appears to an ordinary observer to be intoxicated, it is probable cause to believe that person is voluntarily intoxicated for purposes of division (B) of this section. 

(E) (1)  Whoever violates this section is guilty of disorderly conduct. 

(2) Except as otherwise provided in division (E)(3) of this section, disorderly conduct is a minor misdemeanor. 

(3) Disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree if any of the following applies: 

(a) The offender persists in disorderly conduct after reasonable warning or request to desist. 

(b) The offense is committed in the vicinity of a school or in a school safety zone. 

(c) The offense is committed in the presence of any law enforcement officer, firefighter, rescuer, medical person, emergency medical services person, or other authorized person who is engaged in the person's duties at the scene of a fire, accident, disaster, riot, or emergency of any kind. 

(d) The offense is committed in the presence of any emergency facility person who is engaged in the person's duties in an emergency facility. 

(F)  As used in this section: 

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

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

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

(4) "Committed in the vicinity of a school" has the same meaning as in section 2925.01 of the Revised Code. 
 

HISTORY: 134 v H 511 (Eff 1-1-74); 143 v H 51 (Eff 11-8-90); 146 v S 2 (Eff 7-1-96); 148 v S 1 (Eff 8-6-99); 148 v H 137 (Eff 3-10-2000); 149 v S 40. Eff 1-25-2002.
 

Not analogous to former RC § 2917.11 (RS § 6904; S&C 415, 431, 911; 29 v 144; 68 v 9; GC § 12833, Bureau of Code Revision, 10-1-53), repealed 134 v H 511, § 2, eff 1-1-74.

 

19xx Committee Report or Comment.

1974 Committee Comment to H 511

This section prohibits a broad range of petty but obnoxious conduct, and combines elements of the former offense of disturbing the peace, many special statutes separately forbidding various unrelated minor offenses, and public intoxication. 

The gist of the first part of the section is perversely causing inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to another in any of the listed ways: fighting, threatening, or engaging in wild behavior; making noise excessive under the circumstances; being offensively coarse; needling another in a way likely to incite him into a disorderly response; and unlawfully and without justification creating a dangerous or offensive condition. Some examples of violation include: an affray or the bluster building up to an affray; continuing a noisy party into the wee hours to the discomfiture of the neighbors; displaying a sign using an old English four-letter functional verb in the imperative mood to describe what to do to the rival team at the Big Game; making remarks calculated to annoy their target into taking a swing at his tormentor; relieving oneself in an improper spot; and exploding a firecracker at someone's feet. 

The gist of the second part of the section is being intoxicated, and in a public place or while in the presence of others, engaging in conduct which the offender knows or should know is offensive, or else in public or private doing any act or creating any condition hazardous to the offender or another. Former law merely prohibited being found in a state of intoxication, whereas this section is aimed at particular conduct rather than at the condition. Thus, it is not a violation of this section for a person to get drunk and pass out in his own home, provided he doesn't unreasonably offend others or pose a danger to himself or another person. It is a violation if he imbibes too much and, while in public or with others, becomes offensively noisy, coarse, or aggressive, or becomes uncontrollably nauseated between the entree and dessert. It is also a violation if, when alone and drunk or under the influence of drugs, he attempts a tightrope act on a bridge parapet or curls up to sleep in a doorway in freezing weather. 

The intoxication portion of this section is, in part, intended as a device for taking intoxicated persons into custody to permit their commitment and treatment under section 2935.33 and Chapter 3720. of the Revised Code. 

Disorderly conduct is a minor misdemeanor. If the offender persists in disorderly conduct after reasonable request or warning to stop, violation of this section is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.