Louisiana does not have a statute literally called a “no chase law.” When people use that phrase, they are talking about the set of Louisiana rules that decide when police can pursue a fleeing vehicle, what a driver faces for running, and who pays when a chase goes wrong. Two statutes do most of the work: La. R.S. 32:24, which controls how an officer may drive during an emergency pursuit, and La. R.S. 14:108.1, which sets the criminal penalties for fleeing. Department policies and the Fourth Amendment fill in the rest.
What Officers Are Allowed to Do During a Pursuit
La. R.S. 32:24 is the driving rulebook for officers in pursuit. During a chase, an officer may run a red light or stop sign after slowing or stopping as safety requires, exceed the posted speed limit so long as doing so does not endanger life or property, and disregard the normal rules about direction of travel and turning. Audible or visual signals must be running so other drivers know an emergency vehicle is coming.1Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 32 RS 32-24
The statute then draws a hard line. None of those privileges relieve the officer of the duty to drive with due regard for everyone’s safety, and the law expressly does not shield an officer from the consequences of reckless disregard for the safety of others.1Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 32 RS 32-24
That “reckless disregard” clause is where most pursuit liability begins. An officer who flies through an intersection without slowing has stepped past what the statute authorizes, and both civil and criminal consequences become possible.
What Happens to a Driver Who Flees
Louisiana splits the offense into two tiers depending on how the driver behaves during the pursuit.
Simple Flight From an Officer
Under La. R.S. 14:108.1, simple flight is the intentional refusal to stop a vehicle after a police officer with reasonable grounds gives a visual and audible signal to pull over. A conviction carries a fine between $150 and $500, up to six months in jail, or both.2Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 RS 14-108.1
Aggravated Flight From an Officer
The charge becomes aggravated flight when the refusal to stop creates circumstances that endanger human life. The statute defines that as committing at least two of the following during the same chase:
- Leaving the roadway or forcing another vehicle off the road
- Colliding with another vehicle
- Exceeding the speed limit by at least 25 miles per hour
- Driving against traffic
- Running a stop sign or yield sign
- Running a red light or other traffic signal
Any two of those turn a misdemeanor-level offense into a felony. After a 2024 amendment, the penalty runs up to ten years at hard labor and a fine of up to $2,000. If the aggravated flight causes serious bodily injury, the maximum climbs to fifteen years at hard labor.2Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 RS 14-108.1
A court may also order restitution to compensate victims. If the defendant cannot pay at sentencing, the court sets a payment plan based on ability to pay.2Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 RS 14-108.1
Resisting an Officer
Flight can also be charged as resisting an officer under La. R.S. 14:108, which defines obstruction to include running from an officer before the officer can restrain you, after you have been told you are under arrest. Resisting carries a fine up to $500, up to six months in jail, or both.3Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 RS 14-108 Prosecutors sometimes stack both charges depending on the facts. The flight statute is written for vehicle pursuits; the resisting statute covers broader conduct.
Department Policies Often Restrict More Than the Statute Does
State law sets a floor. Individual Louisiana agencies routinely set stricter ceilings through their own pursuit policies, which control when an officer may start a chase, when a supervisor must be looped in, and when a pursuit must be called off.
The Baton Rouge Police Department’s General Order on Vehicle Pursuits, for instance, requires officers to weigh the immediate danger a pursuit creates against the danger of letting the suspect escape. Officers must factor in the type of offense, traffic conditions, and weather before starting a chase.4City of Baton Rouge. General Order 136 – Vehicle Pursuits
These policies matter beyond internal discipline. An officer who complies with R.S. 32:24 but violates department policy can still face termination and civil liability, and in a lawsuit the agency’s own policy becomes evidence of what counted as reasonable conduct.
When a Chase Becomes a Crime for the Officer
Officers who cause death or serious injury during a pursuit can be prosecuted. The charge tracks the officer’s conduct rather than the outcome alone. In 2023, Addis Police Officer David Cauthron was charged with two counts of negligent homicide and one count of negligent injuring after running a red light at high speed during a chase and crashing into a car carrying three teenagers, killing two.
Louisiana’s vehicular homicide statute, La. R.S. 14:32.1, carries five to thirty years in prison and a $2,000 to $15,000 fine, though it is most often applied to intoxicated drivers.5Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 RS 14-32.1 Officers involved in fatal pursuits are more commonly charged under the general negligent homicide or negligent injuring statutes.
Civil Liability When a Chase Injures a Bystander
If a police chase injures someone or damages property, the injured person may have a civil claim against the officer and the employing agency. The opening for those claims sits in R.S. 32:24 itself, which does not protect officers from the consequences of reckless disregard for public safety.1Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 32 RS 32-24
Louisiana does grant public entities some immunity. Under La. R.S. 9:2793.1, officers acting within the scope of their duties who cause property damage while taking reasonable steps to address a public emergency are shielded from liability unless the damage resulted from willful, wanton, or grossly negligent conduct.6Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 9 RS 9-2793.1 The “unless” is doing heavy work. An officer who barrels through a crowded intersection at 90 miles per hour during a minor-offense chase will have a hard time arguing that the conduct was reasonable.
Municipalities often pay significant settlements in pursuit cases, which is one reason many departments choose to be more restrictive than R.S. 32:24 requires.
Fourth Amendment Limits
State law is not the only constraint. The Fourth Amendment sets independent limits on police conduct during pursuits. In Scott v. Harris (2007), the U.S. Supreme Court held that an officer’s decision to end a dangerous high-speed chase does not violate the Fourth Amendment, even when it puts the fleeing driver at serious risk. The Court weighed the intrusion on the individual against the government’s interest in protecting the public from a dangerous chase.7Justia. Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372 (2007) In practice, courts ask whether the flight actually threatened bystanders. A suspect weaving through highway traffic at high speed is a different case from someone driving a few miles over the limit on an empty road.
Qualified Immunity
Officers sued in federal court for pursuit injuries almost always raise qualified immunity, which shields government officials from personal liability unless their conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right. In the 2026 case Zorn v. Linton, the Supreme Court reinforced how hard this defense is to overcome, holding that a prior decision must clearly establish that the officer’s specific conduct violated the Fourth Amendment before personal liability can attach. A general principle is not enough.8SCOTUSblog. Court Reverses Ruling on Qualified Immunity Qualified immunity does not apply in state court claims under Louisiana law, but it makes federal civil rights suits against individual officers very difficult to win. Successful pursuit cases usually target the agency or municipality rather than the officer personally.
Hot Pursuit and the Home
The Fourth Amendment also recognizes a hot pursuit exception that lets officers enter private property without a warrant when chasing a suspected felon. The Supreme Court drew the line at felonies in Welsh v. Wisconsin (1984), holding that pursuit of a minor offense does not justify warrantless entry into a home.9Legal Information Institute. Unreasonable Search and Seizure Whether the underlying offense is serious enough to justify continued pursuit shows up repeatedly in both constitutional analysis and department policy.