2025 Georgia Codes – Page 230

(iv) The officer has probable cause to believe that the offender has violated a criminal family violence
order, as defined in Code Section 16-5-95; provided, however, that such officer shall not have any prior or
current familial relationship with the alleged victim or the offender;
(v) The officer has probable cause to believe that an offense involving physical abuse has been committed
against a vulnerable adult, who shall be for the purposes of this subsection a person 18 years old or older
who is unable to protect himself or herself from physical or mental abuse because of a physical or mental
impairment; or
(vi) For other cause there is likely to be failure of justice for want of a judicial officer to issue a warrant.
(2) Except where otherwise provided by law with respect to a law enforcement officer’s jurisdictional duties
and limitations, a law enforcement officer may make an arrest for an offense outside of the jurisdiction of
the law enforcement agency by which he or she is employed without a warrant:
(A) If the offense is committed in such officer’s presence or within such officer’s immediate knowledge;
(B) When in immediate pursuit of an offender for an offense committed within the jurisdiction of the law
enforcement agency that employs such law enforcement officer; or
(C) While aiding or assisting another law enforcement officer in the jurisdiction of the law enforcement
agency employing such other law enforcement officer.
(3) Nothing in paragraph (2) of this subsection shall be construed as limiting sheriffs or deputy sheriffs in the
performance of the duties and responsibilities imposed on them by the Constitution and laws of this state.
(b) Sheriffs and peace officers who are appointed or employed in conformity with Chapter 8 of Title 35 may
use deadly force to apprehend a suspected felon only when the officer reasonably believes that the suspect
possesses a deadly weapon or any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a
person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury; when the officer reasonably believes that
the suspect poses an immediate threat of physical violence to the officer or others; or when there is probable
cause to believe that the suspect has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of
serious physical harm. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed so as to restrict such sheriffs or peace
officers from the use of such reasonable nondeadly force as may be necessary to apprehend and arrest a sus-
pected felon or misdemeanant.
(c) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed so as to restrict the use of deadly force by employees of
state and county correctional institutions, jails, and other places of lawful confinement or by peace officers
of any agency in the State of Georgia when reasonably necessary to prevent escapes or apprehend escapees
from such institutions.
(d) No law enforcement agency of this state or of any political subdivision of this state shall adopt or promul-
gate any rule, regulation, or policy which prohibits a peace officer from using that degree of force to appre-
hend a suspected felon which is allowed by the statutory and case law of this state.
(e) Each peace officer shall be provided with a copy of this Code section. Training regarding elder abuse,
abuse of vulnerable adults, and the requirements of this Code section should be offered as part of at least one
in-service training program each year conducted by or on behalf of each law enforcement department and
agency in this state.
(f) A nuclear power facility security officer, including a contract security officer, employed by a federally
licensed nuclear power facility or licensee thereof for the purpose of securing that facility shall have the
authority to:
(1) Threaten or use force against another in defense of a federally licensed nuclear power facility and the
persons therein as provided for under Code Sections 16-3-21 and 16-3-23;
(2) Search any person on the premises of the nuclear power facility or the properties adjacent to the facil-
ity if the facility is under imminent threat or danger pursuant to a written agreement entered into with the
local enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the facility for the purpose of determining if such person
possesses unauthorized weapons, explosives, or other similarly prohibited material; provided, however, that
if such person objects to any search, he or she shall be detained as provided in paragraph (3) of this sub-
section or shall be required to immediately vacate the premises. Any person refusing to submit to a search
and refusing to vacate the premises of a facility upon the request of a security officer as provided for in this
Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and
(3) In accordance with a nuclear security plan approved by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commis-
sion or other federal agency authorized to regulate nuclear facility security, detain any person located on
the premises of a nuclear power facility or on the properties adjacent thereto if the facility is under immi-
nent threat or danger pursuant to a written agreement entered into with the local law enforcement agency
having jurisdiction over the facility, where there is reasonable suspicion to believe that such person poses
a threat to the security of the nuclear power facility, regardless of whether such prohibited act occurred in
the officer’s presence. In the event of such detention, the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over
the facility shall be immediately contacted. The detention shall not exceed the amount of time reasonably
necessary to allow for law enforcement officers to arrive at the facility.

A violation of an order issued pursuant to this article may be punished by an action for contempt or criminally
punished as provided in Article 7 of Chapter 5 of Title 16.
Title 20
Education
Chapter 2
Elementary and Secondary Education

(B) A motor vehicle operated by a local transit system which meets the equipment and identification require-
ments of Code Section 40-8-115; provided, however, that such vehicle shall be a school bus only while
transporting school children and no other passengers to or from school.
(56) “Semitrailer” means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for
carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some part of its
weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle.
(56.1) “Shared use path” means a pathway physically separated from motorized vehicular traffic by an open
space or barrier and either within the highway right of way or within an independent right of way and used
by bicycles, pedestrians, manual and motorized wheelchairs, and other authorized motorized and nonmotor-
ized users.
(57) “Sidewalk” means that portion of a street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a railway, and the
adjacent property lines, primarily intended for use by pedestrians.
(58) “Solid tires” means tires of rubber or similarly elastic material that do not depend on confined air for the
support of the load. A vehicle shall be considered equipped with solid tires when solid tires are used on two
or more wheels.
(59) “Special mobile equipment” means every vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation
of persons or property and only incidentally operated or moved over a highway, including but not limited
to: ditch-digging apparatus, well-boring apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery such
as asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, tractors other than truck tractors, ditchers, leveling
graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers, scarifiers, earth-moving carryalls and scrapers, pow-
er shovels and drag lines, and self-propelled cranes and earth-moving equipment. The term does not include
house trailers, dump trucks, truck mounted transit mixers, cranes or shovels, or other vehicles designed for
the transportation of persons or property to which machinery has been attached.
(60) “Stand” or “standing” means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporar-
ily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers.
(61) “State” means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, or a province of Canada.
(62) “Stop” or “stopping”:
(A) When required, means complete cessation from movement; or
(B) When prohibited, means any halting, even momentarily, of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except
when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or
traffic-control sign or signal.
(63) “Street” means the entire width between boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part
thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
(63.1) “Taxicab” means a motor vehicle for hire which conveys passengers between locations of their choice
and is a mode of public transportation for a single passenger or small group for a fee. Such term shall also
mean taxi or cab, but not a bus or school bus, limousine, passenger car, or commercial motor vehicle.
(64) “Through highway” means every highway or portion thereof on which vehicular traffic is given prefer-
ential right of way and at the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by
law to yield the right of way to vehicles on such through highway in obedience to a stop sign, yield sign, or
other official traffic-control device, when such signs or devices are erected as provided in this title.
(65) “Tractor” means any self-propelled vehicle designed for use as a traveling power plant or for drawing
other vehicles but having no provision for carrying loads independently.
(66) “Traffic” means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or
together while using any highway for purposes of travel.
(67) “Traffic-control signal” means any device, whether manually, electrically, or mechanically operated, by
which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to proceed.
(68) “Trailer” means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carry-
ing persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that no part of its weight
rests upon the towing vehicle.
(69) “Tripper service” means regularly scheduled mass transportation service which is open to the fare-
paying public but which is also designed or modified to accommodate the needs of elementary or secondary
school students and school personnel.
(70) “Truck” means every motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of
property.
(71) “Truck camper” means any structure designed, used, or maintained primarily to be loaded on or affixed
to a motor vehicle to provide a mobile dwelling, sleeping place, office, or commercial space.
(72) “Truck tractor” means every motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and
not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn.
(73) “Urban district” means the territory contiguous to and including any street which is built up with struc-
tures devoted to business, industry, or dwelling houses situated at intervals of less than 100 feet for a dis-
tance of a quarter of a mile or more.
(74) “Used motor vehicle” means any motor vehicle which has been the subject of a sale at retail to the gen-
eral public.
(75) “Vehicle” means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or
drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
(76) “Wrecker” means a vehicle designed, equipped, or used to tow or carry other motor vehicles by means of
a hoist, crane, sling, lift, or roll-back or slide back platform, by a mechanism of a like or similar character, or
by any combination thereof, and the terms “tow truck” and “wrecker” are synonymous.