(A) A law enforcement officer from Georgia or North Carolina who enters this State in fresh pursuit of a person has the same authority to arrest and hold in custody the person within this State as a law enforcement officer of this State has to arrest and hold in custody a person for committing a criminal offense in this State.

(B)(1) When an arrest is made in this State by a law enforcement officer of another state pursuant to subsection (A), the law enforcement officer must, without unnecessary delay, take the person arrested before a judicial official of this State.

(2) The judicial official must conduct a hearing for the limited purpose of determining whether the arrest meets the requirements of this section unless the person arrested executes a written waiver of his right to a hearing under this section. If the judicial official determines that the arrest was unlawful, he must discharge the person arrested. If the judicial official determines that the arrest was lawful, he must commit the person arrested to imprisonment for twenty days as provided in § 17-9-10. Once the person is imprisoned pursuant to this section, the provisions of Title 17, Chapter 9 govern the extradition and return of the person to the state in which the criminal offense was committed.

(C) For the purpose of this section:

(1) "Law enforcement officer" means an appointed officer or employee who is hired by and regularly on the payroll of a state or any political subdivision, who is granted the statutory authority to enforce all or some of the criminal, traffic, or penal laws of their respective state, and who is granted or possesses with respect to those laws, the power to effect arrests for offenses committed or alleged to have been committed.

(2) "Fresh pursuit" means a pursuit by a law enforcement officer of a person who is in the immediate and continuous flight from the commission of a criminal offense.

(D) The authority granted by this section is limited to criminal offenses of the pursuing state that also are criminal offenses under the laws of this State and that are punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year under the laws of the pursuing state.

(E) This section applies only to a law enforcement officer from Georgia or North Carolina if the officer’s employing or appointing state has enacted a provision similar to this section relating to the arrest and custody of a person pursued into a neighboring state.