Self v. State

In Self v. State, 245 Ga. App. 270 (537 SE2d 723) (2000), a police officer checked a vehicle's license plate before stopping it and found that it was registered to another vehicle. The Court expressly held that "the potential violation of OCGA 40-2-6 supported the stop of the vehicle." Id. at 274 (3) (a). Implicit in our holding was that the information provided by the GCIC was justification for the initial stop of the vehicle. The Court further elaborated that the investigatory stop was upheld as valid only when additional facts were considered: the vehicle had been described by the victims of the crime; police officers had been notified that the vehicle was back at the crime scene, had located it within moments of being notified of its whereabouts and had observed unusually slow movements by the vehicle. Id.