More New Year’s Eve Reports Concerning Georgia Roadways This Year

More news came out of New Year's Eve this year on Georgia roadways. According to reports out of Douglas County, four accused burglars were involved in a high-speed chase with authorities.

The chase resulted in a crash as most high-speed chases do. The reports and dash cam video show the vehicle speeding away, jumping a curve, and slamming into a pole. Two of the passengers jumped out and ran into a nearby wooded area. The other two men were arrested at the scene.

As a Georgia DUI Attorney, I focus on criminal offenses that are relevant to my area of law - this includes serious DUI related offenses such as fleeing the police and obstruction in Georgia. In today's post, I will outline the offense of fleeing or attempting to elude the police as it is the most obvious of the crimes that were accounted for that evening.

Fleeing the Police in Georgia

Fleeing the Police in Georgia is defined in 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 and upon conviction shall be fined not less than $500.00 nor more than $5,000.00, which fine shall not be subject to suspension, stay, or probation and imprisoned for not less than ten days nor more than 12 months. O.C.G.A. §40-6-395.

Practice Note

Subsequent convictions for fleeing or attempting to elude police officers in Georgia are punished more harshly as with most crimes The same goes for DUI in Georgia. A Third DUI in Georgia has more serious consequences that someone's first DUI conviction.

However, not all people who are accused of committing crimes are guilty of those crimes. A Georgia DUI Attorney understands the foundation of our criminal justice system: innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

If you or a loved one has been arrested, contact our offices today.