Fatal Accident After Police Chase in Gwinnett County

Gwinnett County experienced a fatal crash this past week. According to reports, a teenager died after allegedly stealing a tip jar from a restaurant, fleeing police officers, and crashing his car into a retention pond.

Police found his vehicle fully submerged in the pond, and his body was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

Fleeing or Attempting to Elude in Georgia

Fleeing or attempting to elude an officer in Georgia is defined by the Georgia Code 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. Any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a high and aggravated misdemeanor… O.C.G.A. §40-6-395.

As you can see from the statute above, even a first-time offense is classified as a high and aggravated misdemeanor in Georgia. This means that there are more serious consequences than a misdemeanor offense.

Practice Note

Many times when I write about a case involving fleeing the police or a serious police chase, I must preface that the news only covers the absolute worst case scenarios. However, unlike the horrific story above, fleeing cases happen must more often and are typically associated with DUI in Georgia.

If you or a loved one has been arrested for DUI in Georgia as well as any other traffic or criminal offense, contact our offices today. A Georgia DUI Lawyer can help you with your case.