Harris v. State, 37129
| Decision Date | 16 April 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 37129,37129,2 |
| Citation | 97 Ga.App. 495,103 S.E.2d 443 |
| Parties | Aaron HARRIS v. The STATE |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The evidence authorized a finding that the defendant, who was sitting in the driver's seat of an automobile steering it down the street at a speed of about five miles per hour with the motor not running, was driving a motor vehicle within the meaning of Code, § 68-1503(c) making it a penal offense to drive or operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants.
2. It is not ordinarily error to fail to define to the jury words of ordinary significance in the absence of a timely written request.
3. A witness who has had suitable opportunity for observation may state whether or not another person in intoxicated, and the extent of his intoxication.
Aaron Harris was tried and convicted in the City Court of LaGrange under an accusation charging him with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants. His motion for new trial based on the general grounds and 3 special grounds was denied, and he assigns error on this judgment.
James E. Weldon, LaGrange, for plaintiff in error.
E. W. Fleming, Sol., LaGrange, for defendant in error.
Under Code, § 68-1625 it is unlawful for any person under the influence of intoxicating liquor 'to operate or drive any vehicle.' Under Code, § 68-1503(c) a driver is 'every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.' The question raised by the general grounds and special ground 1 is whether the State proved the defendant was operating his automobile by proof that when the witness, a police officer, arrived, the defendant was sitting in and steering the car which was being pushed out of a service station by a jeep, that the cars went for about a block; the jeep turned around and went back to the service station; the defendant continued to steer his automobile, which was moving down the street at about five miles per hour with the motor not running and when told to do so by the police officers he pulled over to the right side of the road and stopped.
This court has not previously considered the question of whether one who, while under the influence of intoxicants, steers a vehicle which is unable to move under its own power while being pushed or towed, violates Code, § 68-1625. That other States with similar statutes have often so held, see Hester v. State, 196 Tenn. 680, 270 S.W.2d 321, 47 A.L.R.2d 568, and the annotation in the latter volume beginning at page 570. Under our statute defining a driver as a person in actual physical control of a vehicle, what constitutes control might become an issue of fact. In this case a finding is authorized that, while the defendant was not in such control during the time the vehicle was pushed out into the street, he did have such control while he was guiding it down the road, operating under the force of gravity, after the jeep ceased to push the vehicle and before the officers ordered it pulled over to the side. Acts...
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People v. Jordan
...a vehicle being pushed or towed by others. (See e. g. Walker v. State (1966) 241 Ark. 396, 408 S.W.2d 474; Harris v. State (1958) 97 Ga.App. 495, 103 S.E.2d 443; Duckett v. State (1963) 108 Ga.App. 317, 132 S.E.2d 811; Hester v. State (1954) 196 Tenn. 680, 270 S.W.2d 321, 47 A.L.R.2d 568; R......
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Savage v. State
...or being in actual physical control of a moving vehicle while under the influence, under OCGA § 40-6-391(a). See Deering v. State.4 In Harris v. State,5 overruled on other grounds, Luke v. State,6 this court found an intoxicated defendant to be in actual physical control of his disabled veh......
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Mester v. State
...Vehicle for Purposes of Driving While Intoxicated Statute or Ordinance, 93 A.L.R.3d 7 (1979)." 743 P.2d at 26-27; see Harris v. State, 97 Ga.App. 495, 103 S.E.2d 443 (1958) (vehicle pushed by another car, then coasted down street without engine running, held to constitute operating a motor ......
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Wilson v. State, 69622
...opinion") are cases such as Choice v. State, 31 Ga. 424 (1860); Durham v. State, 166 Ga. 561, 144 S.E. 109 (1928); Harris v. State, 97 Ga.App. 495, 103 S.E.2d 443 (1958); Lawrence v. State, 157 Ga.App. 264, 277 S.E.2d 60 (1981). Those cases supporting the latter position ("as a fact") are J......