Just after midnight in Brunswick, Ohio, police spotted a car pulling into a parking lot. What happened next looked like something out of a bad driving school comedy. The driver slid out from behind the wheel, the passenger climbed in, and the vehicle pulled back onto the road. The problem: A police officer was watching the entire swap.

When police pulled the car over, the surprise wasn’t who ended up in the driver’s seat

It was that neither woman should have been behind the wheel in the first place.

Both had suspended licenses. The original driver’s troubles didn’t stop there. Officers reported she also had active warrants out of Parma Police Department and Ohio State Patrol.

Local authorities cited her for driving under suspension and booked her into Medina County Jail. 

Her passenger, now briefly the “new driver,” was cited (for what, the Cleveland.com Police Blotter didn’t say) and then released.

What if the passenger had a valid license?

Drivers in Ohio sometimes assume a quick seat swap could dodge a ticket if a licensed passenger takes over.

In reality, police would still see the original unlicensed driver operating the car, and that alone is enough for a citation.

A valid passenger who takes over afterward would not typically be cited for driving illegally, but the swap in plain view of officers almost guarantees attention, questions, and potential added citations.

Ohio’s suspended license problem is bigger than many realize.

The state carries more than 3 million active license suspensions annually, and not all are due to driving-related issues like DUIs or failure to maintain insurance. The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland says that over 60% of court-issued suspensions are due to unpaid fines.

In any case, driving while suspended can escalate quickly, leading to jail time, additional fines, and longer suspensions. For both drivers in Brunswick, what looked like a quick fix became a paper trail of new charges.