COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio activists are starting to gather signatures to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would end qualified immunity — a protection for police and other government officials that prevents citizens from suing them.
When an Akron police officer caused an accident that crushed four cars, Steven Rockich expected some sort of remedy.
"I could not believe my eyes, man, I was like what the heck?" Rockich said, evaluating the damage.
But he didn’t get it.
He told us in January that even though the officer was found liable for causing the damage, he would be the one paying the price.
"The towing that I had to pay out-of-pocket was over $600, and then my car was worth over $5,000, so it's all out the window— just smashed," Rockich said.
State law prevents government officials from being held liable for civil damages unless the victim can prove that the officer violated their constitutional rights, which activist Marije Rivers explained is an uphill battle.
"It's hard to prove that exact, because you would initially need full evidence, with redactions, with opinions, with point of views, audio," Rivers said. "It's so hard to get it exactly right."
This is why she is collecting signatures for the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity — and is working to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The proposal would take away this protection and allow victims to sue for damages.
Click here to read the full proposal.
News 5 Investigators found thousands of at-fault crashes by emergency vehicles piling up across the state during the past five years.
But Ohio Fraternal Order of Police President Jay McDonald argued that this is necessary to shield officers who are just trying to do their jobs.
"If I am worried about whether or not I'm going to get sued and lose my house and put my family at risk, then I'm also going to be worried about whether I should proactively police that neighborhood," McDonald said.
But when it comes to car crash damage...
"Who should be paying for that?" I asked the police chief.
"Well, right now there's existing frameworks to pay for that," he responded. "We don't need a complete expansion of litigation rights that could cause taxes to go up, could cause cops to cease working in this profession."
Rivers said current legal remedies tend to be ineffective.
"The city will fund and insure what they want to fund and insure," she said.
But this won’t just hurt police, McDonald warned.
"This impacts children's services workers, teachers, custodial people at schools," he said. "We're exposing the lunch lady at your local elementary school to litigation that doesn't exist today."
Attorney General Dave Yost has also been fighting against the amendment, but recently, a federal court forced him to approve the petition, so that Rivers and others can start collecting the about 415,000 signatures needed by early July.
Until then, Rockich is footing the bill.
"They said that they're not going to pay anything for what just happened because it's full immunity," he said.
Activists are trying to get it on the November ballot.
