Court Opinion

ID: 9855069
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:19:01.94395+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:39.743118
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Chief Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur but point out that, if there is any lingering doubt about Cherokee County’s liability, it vanishes in the light of the constitutional prohibition against “any person be[ing] abused in being arrested, while under arrest, or in prison.” Ga. Const., Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XVII. Cherokee County took custody of McFarland not only to transport him to the hospital for emergency medical aid but also to charge him with aggravated assault (OCGA § 16-5-21). That is evident from the fact that warrants were immediately obtained by Cherokee County officers to search his residence and his body for evidence in connection with such a charge.
It could hardly be argued that it would not be an abuse to fail or refuse to obtain medical aid for McFarland after he was shot. The statutes discussed in the majority opinion are an affirmative implementation of this constitutional prohibition. There is, moreover, no contention or evidence that Cherokee County was acting as McFarland’s financial agent when it delivered him to the hospital and arranged for medical treatment.