Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Iowa Code § 321.279

Eluding or attempting to elude pursuing law enforcement vehicle

Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case United States v. Doyle (2012)

Most recently applied in People v. Hearn (June 2023)

[C81, §321.279]

How often courts cite this section

20122020202320
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

1. a. The driver of a motor vehicle commits a serious misdemeanor if the driver willfully fails to bring the motor vehicle to a stop or otherwise eludes or attempts to elude a marked or unmarked official law enforcement vehicle driven by a peace officer after being given a visual and audible signal to stop. The signal given by the peace officer shall be by flashing red light, or by flashing red and blue lights, and siren. For purposes of this section, “peace officer” means those officers designated under section 801.4, subsection 11, paragraphs “a”, “b”, “c”, “f”, “g”, and “h”.

b. The driver of a motor vehicle who commits a violation under this subsection and who has previously committed any violation under this section is, upon conviction, guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor.

2. a. The driver of a motor vehicle commits a class “D” felony if the driver willfully fails to bring the motor vehicle to a stop or otherwise eludes or attempts to elude a marked or unmarked official law enforcement vehicle that is driven by a peace officer after being given a visual and audible signal as provided in this section and in doing so exceeds the speed limit by twenty-five miles per hour or more.

b. The driver of a motor vehicle who commits a violation under this subsection and who has previously committed any violation under this section is, upon conviction, guilty of a class “C” felony.

94 Acts, ch 1069, §1; 99 Acts, ch 31, §1; 2002 Acts, ch 1119, §153; 2008 Acts, ch 1147, §3; 2020 Acts, ch 1028, §1; 2020 Acts, ch 1121, §65, 70; 2021 Acts, ch 183, §49, 52; 2023 Acts, ch 42, §3 – 5

Official source: Iowa Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Iowa statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.