Can police arrest me for DUI after an accident if they didn’t witness the crash?

Answer:
Yes, absolutely — but they must prove you were either driving the car or in actual physical control of it. They don’t need to have witnessed it firsthand; they can rely on other evidence, such as witness accounts or observing vehicle damage at the scene. That kind of evidence is often sufficient to support a DUI charge.

What the State Actually Has to Prove

O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(a) doesn’t require the state to show that an officer personally watched you drive. The statute reaches anyone who “drives or is in actual physical control” of a vehicle while impaired, and that second phrase is doing a lot of work — it lets the state build its case out of whatever evidence exists at the scene, not just an officer’s own eyes.

Circumstantial Evidence Can Fill the Gap

Georgia courts have upheld convictions built entirely on this kind of secondhand evidence. In Savage v. State, 252 Ga. App. 251 (2001), a bystander witnessed the defendant get into a car and watched it roll and strike a parked van; officers arrived afterward and found the two vehicles damaged. Even though no officer saw the car move, the witness’s account combined with the physical evidence at the scene was enough to support a finding that the defendant was in actual physical control of the vehicle.

The Engine Doesn’t Even Have to Be Running

Georgia courts have gone further still. Relying on earlier decisions in Harris v. State, 97 Ga. App. 495 (1958), and Greene v. State, 214 Ga. App. 664 (1994), the court in Savage confirmed that it isn’t necessary for the engine to be running, or even for the defendant to have steered the car, to establish actual physical control — what matters is that the vehicle moved as a result of the person’s own actions.

What Georgia Law Requires Before an Officer Can Make the Arrest

Under O.C.G.A. § 17-4-20(a), a warrantless arrest generally requires that the offense be committed in the officer’s presence or within the officer’s immediate knowledge. At an accident scene, that knowledge often comes from exactly the kind of evidence described above — witness statements, vehicle positioning, and visible damage gathered during the investigation, rather than the officer’s own observation of the driving itself.

Why This Makes the Investigation Itself Worth Scrutinizing

Because a case like this is built on secondhand evidence rather than direct observation, every piece of it is fair game to examine closely: how reliable the witness actually was, whether the vehicle damage was documented properly, and whether the account given to police matches what’s shown in any photos, video, or physical evidence from the scene.

What This Means for Your Case

That kind of evidence is often sufficient to support a DUI charge.

5 Star Rating

Brett and his team were beyond supportive, helpful, gracious, caring and knowledgeable! We went through the most challenging and difficult time in our life and he was there every step of the way. With results we could never have imagined but definitely prayed for.

Not to mention his level of professionalism. From the first time we spoke to the first time we saw him in court. He stood out from almost every other attorney there. We were so appreciative that our attorney looked and was so professional, pulled together and prepared. When so many others were none of these things.

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5 Star Rating

I tried to write this several times and it brought me to tears. First may I say this has been the hardest three years of my life. Five lawyers I interviewed and none even understood the law as it applied to my case. So I thought I would try one more and it was Brett. From our first conversation together I knew he understood the law and was the perfect one for the case. I want to say how he prepared the case and presented it, achieving a full dismissal and ruling the police violated my first amendment rights. Complete genius!!!!

If you're reading this review and unsure, stop...call Brett. He always returned my call or texts within a couple hours, never more than 24 hours. He was always courteous and knowledgeable, trust me he talked me off the ledge a couple times. I would have given him 10 stars but 5 was the only option. Thank you Brett for all you did for me!!!!!