In Georgia, there are serious charges related to DUI if an accident with another person or vehicle has occurred. The most serious charges are vehicular homicide charges, which will be filed if someone was fatally injured in an accident. Serious injury by vehicle charges are also available if someone has been seriously injured in an accident. The law gives examples of what type of injury constitutes a serious injury within the meaning of the law. Finally, if no one was fatally or critically injured, you can still be charged with numerous other traffic citations depending on how the accident occurred.
Even where there has been an accident, the law behind DUI charges remains the same. Just because there was an accident does not make you automatically DUI. Rather, the prosecutor and law enforcement authorities must link the accident to any DUI evidence. Often accident cases can prove more difficult to prosecute as there are usually injuries and parties are often transported to the hospital or otherwise unable to be interviewed and fully investigated for DUI. Additionally, obtaining a blood or breath test can be more difficult when the parties have been involved in an accident. Even single-car accidents present additional problems for law enforcement looking to make a DUI case.
If you have been involved in an accident and think you may be investigated for DUI, contact our law office today before you speak to any cops or investigators about the circumstances surrounding the accident. Investigators will commonly call you, or even visit your home or job in an effort to interview you about the accident and dig up any evidence of impaired driving that lead to the accident. If you have an attorney and make the investigators aware of it, they cannot further pry into your case and must go through your attorney with any further questioning. Call Attorney Watson 24/7 at (770) 887-3720 if you have been involved in an accident and are concerned about further charges, DUI or otherwise, being filed.