Oakwood Officers Chase Driver to Dekalb County

Hall County Courthouse

Oakwood, Ga. - Officers in Oakwood are searching for a man who allegedly struck an officer with his vehicle.

The driver from there was able to make it to Interstate 985 and made it to Interstate 85 through Gwinnett County to Dekalb County. The man lost police somewhere in Dekalb and ended up abandoning the vehicle. The chase involved law enforcement from Oakwood, Hall County, Gwinnett County, and the Georgia State Patrol.

The suspect is obviously facing a lot of charges. However, as a Hall County DUI Lawyer, I will outline the law behind the offense of fleeing or attempting to elude as it is often seen in conjunction with charges for DUI in Georgia.

Fleeing or Attempting to Elude in Georgia

Fleeing or Attempting to Elude in Georgia is defined 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.

Practice Note

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