Devonis English was cited for numerous traffic violations. He was found guilty of all charges following a bench trial in City Court of Atlanta. Several of the charges were merged and dismissed for sentencing purposes. He appeals from the convictions and sentences entered on the charges of reckless driving, no insurance, and fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence as to all three convictions. We find that the evidence was sufficient to support English’s convictions on the charges of reckless driving and fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer. We conclude, however, that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for driving without insurance, and we reverse that conviction. The evidence presented at trial showed that on March 27, 2002, Officer Andrian Jordan of the Atlanta Police Department was on duty monitoring the intersection of Oakland Drive and Almont Drive in Atlanta, when he observed a Ford Thunderbird drive through a stop sign. Jordan activated his blue lights and siren and pulled over the Thunderbird. As Jordan exited the patrol car and was about five feet away from the Thunderbird’s trunk, the Thunderbird pulled off with its “tires screeching.” Jordan pursued the Thunderbird in the patrol car, as the Thunderbird ran several more stop signs, scattering pedestrians trying to cross the street. Jordan caught up to the Thunderbird just before the driver “bailed out” of the car and fled on foot across an open field to a house. Jordan remained outside the house waiting for backup. When backup officers arrived, one of them entered the house and brought the man later identified as English out on the porch, where Jordan identified him as the driver. When English’s name was checked through computer records, it showed that his driver’s license had been revoked, and “also, there was no insurance for vehicle.”
1. English contends the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, OCGA § 40-6-395. The statute provides: It shall be unlawful for any driver of a vehicle willfully to fail or refuse to bring his or her vehicle to a stop or otherwise to flee or attempt to elude a pursuing police vehicle or police officer when given a visual or an audible signal to bring the vehicle to a stop. The signal given by the police officer may be by hand, voice, emergency light, or siren. The officer giving such signal shall be in uniform prominently displaying his or her badge of office, and his or her vehicle shall be appropriately marked showing it to be an official police vehicle. OCGA § 40-6-395 a.
