Christmas Day Police Chase in Clayton County Ends in Gunfire

According to reports out of Clayton County, a suspect died and a police officer was injured after a chase on Christmas Day that ended in gunfire.

Police stated that the suspect was flagged down after the plates of the vehicle were shown as belonging to a car that had been reported stolen. The suspect refused to pull over though. This led to a high speed police chase that ended in gunfire as well as the suspect's death.

As a Georgia DUI Lawyer, I will outline the law behind fleeing or attempting to elude as that is one of the offenses that was committed in the fatal chase this past Christmas holiday.

Fleeing or Attempting to Elude in Georgia

Fleeing or Attempting to Elude Police in Georgia is defined by Georgia Law in O.C.G.A. § 40-6-395 as:

It shall be unlawful for any driver of a vehicle willfully to fail or refuse to bring his or her vehicle to a stop or otherwise to flee or attempt to elude a pursuing police vehicle or police officer when given a visual or an audible signal to bring the vehicle to a stop. The signal given by the police officer may be by hand, voice, emergency light, or siren. The officer giving such signal shall be in uniform prominently displaying his or her badge of office, and his or her vehicle shall be appropriately marked showing it to be an official police vehicle.

A first time offense of fleeing or attempting to elude is classified as a high and aggravated misdemeanor in the state of Georgia. This means that if a person is convicted of fleeing or attempting to elude, he or she is facing up to 12 months of jail time as well as fines up to $5,000.

However, there are circumstances that can exacerbate the penalties associated with a charge of fleeing or attempting to elude. These circumstances include when a driver flees and:

(i) Operates his or her vehicle in excess of 20 miles an hour above the posted speed limit;

(ii) Strikes or collides with another vehicle or a pedestrian;

(iii) Flees in traffic conditions which place the general public at risk of receiving serious injuries;

(iv) Commits a violation of paragraph (5) of subsection (a) of Code Section 40-6-391; or

(v) Leaves the state.
If a driver flees under any one of the above-mentioned circumstances, then a person is facing a felony charge of fleeing or attempting to elude.

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