Dougherty v. the State, 341 Ga. App. 120

At ~8:00 p.m. an officer responded to a 911 call about attempted vehicle break-ins on Chulio Road and observed Preston Dougherty walking alone.
The officer turned on blue lights, parked, approached, asked Dougherty to remove his hands from his pockets and stand in front of the patrol car; Dougherty appeared disoriented, unresponsive to some questions, and gave inconsistent answers about his address.
The officer conducted a pat-down; feeling a needle in Dougherty’s pocket prompted the officer to attempt to handcuff him, at which point Dougherty resisted, struggled, and grabbed the officer’s body camera.
A second officer arrived, deployed a taser twice, and the officers eventually subdued and arrested Dougherty.
Dougherty was tried in a bench trial; acquitted of felony obstruction and battery but convicted of two counts of misdemeanor obstruction. He appealed arguing the officers lacked lawful authority to detain him, so his resistance was justified.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Dougherty)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether officers were acting in the lawful discharge of duties when detention escalated	Officer escalated to investigatory detention immediately without reasonable suspicion (911 call and alleged furtive behavior insufficient)	Officer had reasonable suspicion based on 911 call plus Dougherty’s demeanor, gait, incoherent speech, and presence on roadway suggesting intoxication	Court held officers lawfully escalated to a second-tier detention: reasonable suspicion Dougherty was a pedestrian under the influence, so detention lawful
Whether unlawful initial detention justified continued resistance	Any lack of reasonable suspicion from the start made subsequent arrest unlawful and resistance justified	Even if relying on dispatcher, officer’s direct observations provided particularized, objective basis for detention; therefore resistance not justified	Court rejected Dougherty’s argument and affirmed misdemeanor obstruction convictions

Bray v. State, 330 Ga. App. 768 (establishing standard of review for bench-trial sufficiency)
Walker v. State, 295 Ga. 888 (defining when a seizure occurs via show of authority)
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (establishing stop-and-frisk / seizure principles)
Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119 (reasonableness of suspicion judged by commonsense inferences)
Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398 (officer’s subjective motivation irrelevant to objective reasonable suspicion)
Durden v. State, 320 Ga. App. 218 (brief gap can convert consensual encounter into investigatory detention where suspect complies with commands)
Mack v. State, 305 Ga. App. 697 (detention permissible where pedestrian appears under influence)
Zeeman v. State, 249 Ga. App. 625 (detention justified when subject appears intoxicated even if other suspicions unfounded)
Cash v. State, 337 Ga. App. 511 (activation of lights alone does not necessarily effect a seizure)