A Trumbull County grand jury has indicted a Youngstown man on five criminal counts stemming from a bizarre July confrontation at a Liberty Township Walmart, where he allegedly waved a chainsaw in the parking lot before leading officers on a slow-speed pursuit. Dustin Reaves, 43, now faces felony charges of failure to comply with the signal or order of a police officer and obstructing official business, along with misdemeanor counts of inducing panic, resisting arrest, and harassing a police dog.
The indictment, handed up on September 3, traces back to a July incident in which Reaves allegedly drove recklessly down a roadway before pulling into the Walmart parking lot in Liberty Township, according to WKRC. Once there, he allegedly retrieved and waved a chainsaw before the encounter escalated into a police pursuit. The Walmart sits off Belmont Avenue and Goldie Road in Liberty Plaza, a busy commercial hub near Interstate 80 that serves the northern Youngstown metro area, according to Business Journal Daily.
A Pursuit That Never Broke 45 MPH
What followed wasn't a high-speed chase in the traditional sense. Authorities said the pursuit never exceeded 45 mph, and Reaves reportedly stopped at traffic signals along the way even as he refused to pull over for officers, per the same account from WKRC. The unusual combination of a slow, signal-abiding flight from police, paired with the earlier chainsaw display, formed the basis for the felony failure-to-comply charge.
Under Ohio Revised Code § 2921.331, willfully fleeing or eluding a police officer after receiving a visible or audible signal can be prosecuted as a felony if the driver creates a substantial risk of serious physical harm, according to the Patituce & Associates law firm. A felony conviction under that statute carries potential prison time and a mandatory driver's license suspension ranging from three years to life. In State v. Bailey, an Ohio appellate court addressed a failure-to-comply charge under R.C. 2921.331(B) that was elevated to a third-degree felony based on an allegation that the vehicle operation created a substantial risk of serious physical harm to persons or property, according to the Ohio Supreme Court case archive.
Additional Charges Tied to the Standoff
Reaves also faces a felony obstructing official business count. Ohio Revised Code § 2921.31 defines that offense as performing an act without privilege that hampers or impedes a public official's duties, and it escalates from a second-degree misdemeanor to a fifth-degree felony if the act creates a risk of physical harm, according to the Law Offices of Brian J. Smith.
The misdemeanor charges round out the indictment. Inducing panic, under Ohio Revised Code § 2917.31, applies when someone commits an offense with reckless disregard for the likelihood it will cause serious public inconvenience or alarm, and it is typically punishable by up to 180 days in jail. Reaves also faces a charge of harassing a police dog under Ohio Revised Code § 2921.321, a statute cited in connection with the charge. That count classifies as a misdemeanor or felony depending on whether harm results.
Next Stop: Arraignment
Reaves is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the grand jury charges on September 15. The case will proceed through the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas in Warren, which handles felony indictments for offenses committed in Liberty Township, according to Ohio.gov.
The Liberty Plaza Walmart has drawn repeated police attention in recent years. The store saw a December 2024 arrest of two men for shoplifting and trespassing, as well as a January 2025 arrest of two men accused of damaging store restrooms, according to The Vindicator. What led Reaves to grab the chainsaw in the first place, and whether it was running when he waved it, remains unclear.
