We granted certiorari to consider whether the Court of Appeals erred by upholding the admission of opinion testimony by a witness who did not personally observe the events that formed the basis for the criminal charges brought against appellant Nathaniel Bly. Bly v. State , 286 Ga. App. 43 3 648 SE2d 446 2007. For the reasons that follow we hold that the admission of the witness’s testimony constituted reversible error. Bly was convicted of aggravated assault on a police officer and felony obstruction arising out of a traffic stop conducted by Eatonton Police Officer Noel Hawk1 around 1:30 a.m. on September 21, 2003. The trial transcript reveals that Hawk, after observing a Ford truck being driven consistently a few inches over the center line, activated his lights based on his suspicion that the driver, Bly, was under the influence.2 Bly promptly pulled over beside the courthouse. The driver of another police car, Officer Willie Brinkley, who just happened to be in the area, pulled up behind Hawk to provide support. Conflicting accounts were given at trial by Hawk and Bly regarding what occurred during the stop. Hawk testified that he asked Bly for his license and proof of insurance and when Bly asked why he had been stopped, Hawk answered it was “for driving over the center line back there.”3 Bly then cursed him and said the officer was lying; Hawk told Bly not to curse him and repeated his request for Bly’s driver’s license and insurance, but Bly cursed him again. At this point, Brinkley was on the other side of the truck “between the back tire and the passenger door” when Hawk testified he “reached and opened Bly’s truck door and told Bly to get out. At that time he kicked me. He had laid —he just laid over the seat, like this, and just took his left leg and kicked me.” Hawk testified that he said to Brinkley, “he just kicked me.” Hawk got his pepper spray from his duty belt in his right hand and saw Bly fumbling towards something in the floorboard of the passenger side of the truck. Using his left hand, Hawk “reached in and grabbed Bly by his left arm.” As Hawk “made contact, to snatch him up, I felt a blow into my arm.” Feeling pain and not knowing what had happened, Hawk used the pepper spray on Bly and backed out of the vehicle, drawing his service revolver and baton. Hawk “hollered” to Brinkley that he had been stabbed and Brinkley started around the front of the truck. Hawk “had already drawn his weapon” when Brinkley “immediately started around the truck.”
Bly testified that after he pulled over in response to the blue lights, he turned on an interior light in his truck and placed his hands on top of the steering wheel. When Hawk arrived, Bly asked why he had been stopped but Hawk simply told Bly to give him Bly’s license and insurance card. When Bly asked again, Hawk said to give him the documents “before he snatched my little ass out of the truck and bounced it off the cement.” Bly told Hawk his insurance card was in the dash compartment and got Hawk’s permission to look there for the card. As Bly leaned across the front seat, the truck door opened and Bly “felt something nudging my leg” and looked to see an arm coming up the seat between his legs towards his crotch. Bly testified he did not see Hawk, whom he thought had circled around to the passenger side to observe him for security purposes while he opened the glove box. Bly seized a pair of wire snips on the seat and hit the arm while it was still between Bly’s legs. The arm recoiled and then Bly was sprayed in the face with pepper spray and ordered out of the truck. Bly complied and Brinkley handcuffed him and placed him in his police car. It is uncontroverted that Bly did not struggle with or offer any resistence to Brinkley. Bly acknowledged cursing Hawk because he “was right ill with me,” but denied making any move towards him.
