Driving under the influence is a dangerous and reckless activity that can ruin far more lives than just the intoxicated driver. It’s why so many jurisdictions across America take driving under the influence very seriously. A DUI can destroy your finances, your employment, and future opportunities, but you don’t have to worry about that so long as you drive sober, right? Sadly, as at least 2,547 drivers in Tennessee have learned the hard way from 2017 to 2023, you can be legally sober and still catch a DUI.
This story caught our attention as it spread across the news and social media. Many Americans are learning that false DUI arrests are a thing, and this revelation is thanks to the excellent reporters at WSMV4 in Nashville, Tennessee. The station has a long-running investigation into false DUI arrests in Tennessee and across America, and its results have been sobering.
In 2022, WSMV4 Investigates launched “Sobering Problem.” It’s an excellent series of investigative journalism that deserves some time in the spotlight. Here’s how the station describes it:
Every day, officers in Tennessee pull over and arrest drivers believed to be under the influence. But what happens to those who aren’t intoxicated?
Since 2022, WSMV4 Investigates’ “Sobering Problem” series has exposed a troubling trend of sober Tennessee drivers being wrongfully arrested for DUI. Chief Investigator Jeremy Finley uncovered a lengthy delay in blood tests that destroyed the lives of sober drivers while they waited to be proven innocent.
The shocking discoveries went on to spur the creation of a new state law and earn a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.
It Started With A Mom
WSMV4 was first alerted to something suspicious with Tennessee’s DUI arrests back in 2022. On June 20, 2022, the outlet published a story with the headline “Blood test shows woman charged with DUI/felony child neglect was sober at time of arrest.” The video is embedded above. Here’s what the story stated:
After working 41 hours in three days caring for COVID patients, Katie Slayton had the day off on Sept. 22, 2021. A single mother of a five-year-old son, the Williamson County nurse had dropped him off at daycare that evening so she could run to the mall. A few hours later, she picked him up and prepared to pull out of the parking spot when she saw police lights directly behind her.
What would happen next would result in devastating consequences: charges of DUI and felony child neglect, separation from her son for nine weeks, and an agonizing six months of waiting for blood test results. A test that would ultimately show she was sober the entire time. “(Franklin police) have traumatized my son; they have traumatized me. They have driven a nurse, with a clean record in 3 states, right out of Franklin, Tennessee,” Slayton said.
In the story, WSMV4 explains that Slayton’s nightmare started after a worker at the daycare called the police, saying that Slayton seemed “off.” Reportedly, the worker told police that Slayton was talking to herself, walking in circles, and scratching her head.
Police would make contact with Slayton, and she explained that she was sober. She even agreed to a field sobriety test. Likewise, an officer in the interaction even said that they didn’t smell any alcohol. Slayton noted that she took Prozac and Adderall for ADHD.
Police then take Slayton’s five-year-old son away before having her do the field sobriety test. Reportedly, this stressed Slayton out, and she got shaky while performing the field sobriety test. Police conclude that she has slurred speech and must be drunk. They arrested her, and since she had no family in Tennessee and a dead phone, her son was put into the custody of the state.
It would take nine weeks for the blood test to come back, which showed that she was not drunk. A psychologist then had to examine Slayton to deem her fit to take back custody of her son. All of this meant that, for nine weeks, she was separated from her son, and she faced charges for felony child neglect and DUI despite not being drunk at all. Once the blood test came back clean, the charges were dropped. But that was it. She was never given an apology or anything. Slayton responded to the result by taking her son and leaving Tennessee. That’s fair.
The investigation suggested that, in Slayton’s case, maybe she was believed to be drunk due to her ADHD behavior, which reportedly can be similar to drunken behavior to the untrained eye.
Here’s how the Tennessee Code defines driving under the influence:
- It is unlawful for any person to drive or to be in physical control of any automobile or other motor driven vehicle on any of the public roads and highways of the state, or on any streets or alleys, or while on the premises of any shopping center, trailer park, or apartment house complex, or any other premises that is generally frequented by the public at large, while:
- (1) Under the influence of any intoxicant, marijuana, controlled substance, controlled substance analogue, drug, substance affecting the central nervous system, or combination thereof that impairs the driver’s ability to safely operate a motor vehicle by depriving the driver of the clearness of mind and control of oneself that the driver would otherwise possess;
- (2) The alcohol concentration in the person’s blood or breath is eight-hundredths of one percent (0.08%) or more; or
- (3) With a blood alcohol concentration of four-hundredths of one percent (0.04%) or more and the vehicle is a commercial motor vehicle as defined in § 55-50-102.
The consequences for DUI convictions in Tennessee are harsh. For example, here’s what a first conviction would get you, from the National College of DUI Defense:
For a DUI 1st conviction: Eleven month and twenty nine day (11/29) sentence, with a minimum service or forty eight (48) hours jail, a fine between $350.00 to $1,500.00, Alcohol safety class, suspension of drivers license for one (1) year. (Eligible for restricted license). If your blood or breath sample is .20% or higher the jail time is seven (7) consecutive days.
WSMV4 warns that, as of this year, police can use “reasonable force” to get a blood sample and that the license suspension minimum is now a year and a half. If you keep on driving drunk and get six or more DUI convictions, here’s the consequence:
For DUI 6th or subsequent convictions: This is a C-felony, with a range of punishment from three (3) to fifteen (15) years imprisonment, with a minimum of one hundred and fifty (150) consecutive days in jail, a fine between $3,000.00 and $15,000.00, and a loss of driver’s license for eight (8) years. (Eligible for Restricted License with an Ignition Interlock Device).
It Gets Worse
This sparked a greater investigation. Slayton was far from the only person to be charged with a DUI or worse despite not being under the influence. Throughout 2024, WSMV4 Investigates revealed the stories of several people who were arrested for DUI and were later found to be sober. In more than one instance, arresting officers allegedly even refused to let the person blow into a breathalyzer despite believing they were drunk. WSMV4 Investigates even found at least one instance where Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers muted their body cams while arresting someone for an alleged DUI.
Then, on November 4, 2024, WSMV4 dropped a bombshell of a report titled “609 sober drivers arrested for DUI in Tennessee between 2017-2023.” Reporters dug into Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) data on DUI arrests and found something shocking. From WSMV4:
WSMV4 Investigates’ reporting found a backlog of alcohol and toxicology tests at the TBI means innocent drivers are losing their jobs and insurance while they wait to clear their names.
[…]
The TBI data shows the arrest of sober drivers happened one or less than one percent of the time in that time frame. The vast majority of DUI arrests resulted in either alcohol or drugs found in the driver’s system. But because there are so many DUI arrests, an average of 15,000 a year, that one percent has resulted in hundreds of arrests of sober drivers. WSMV4 Investigates spoke with Alex Otte, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Tennessee. “Nobody wants drunk drivers on the road, ever. But what does it say that we keep finding sober people being arrested for DUI? I have heard of those on a very limited scale and those are, of course, tragic for anyone involved,” Otte said. WSMV4 Investigates is now seeking reactions to the data from law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. We are also asking the TBI to release the locations of the arrests as well as the police agencies responsible.
State lawmakers were incensed to hear that Tennesseans were being arrested for drunk driving when they weren’t drunk. The result was Senate Bill 1166, which was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2025. The law required the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to identify just how many sober people have actually been arrested for DUI despite actually being sober.
More Than 2,500 Legally Sober People Arrested
In January 2026, TBI finally reported its findings, and the situation was far worse than even WSMV4 discovered. TBI admitted that it grossly undercounted its report of people falsely arrested for DUI by thousands of cases. The now official estimate is that 2,547 Tennessee drivers have been arrested for DUI between 2017 and 2023, even though blood tests had proven they had no alcohol or drugs in their systems. On average, cops in Tennessee arrest around 15,000 people for DUI each year. At first, it was believed that up to one percent of those arrested for DUI were actually sober. Now, the data suggests that it’s slightly more than twice that on average.
Why Are Sober People Getting DUIs?
Now that the data has been revealed, the big question is simply “why?” How are so many sober people getting charged with DUIs? WSMV4 interviewed former state police officers Ashley Smith and Adam Potts. Both claim that these false arrests were due, at least in part, to increased arrest quotas. The video is embedded above. From WSMV4:
WSMV4 Investigates obtained internal maps emailed to troopers in the Jackson district, and recorded audio from a trooper’s meeting in Chattanooga, which Smith and Potts say reveals the department’s insistence that DUI arrests increase. In the recorded meeting, officials told troopers to “arrest every DUI that you can get your hands on” and “load the jail full of them.” The meeting, led by Captain Patrick Turner out of Chattanooga, stipulated that troopers on the midnight shift would be required to make 100 DUI arrests each year.
“Well, it could look like arresting a hundred plus DUIs a year,” Turner said when describing what “hard work” looks like for troopers. Turner can also be heard saying, “You turn in 33 DUIs for a year… And 1.7 contacts (meaning people pulled over for traffic violations)… You’re gonna get spanked.”
Tennessee Highway Patrol denied the allegations despite the recording. The news station then found that Captain Bruce McCarley allegedly sent out “DUI Maps” which showed which officers were operating in certain counties and how many DUI arrests they had made.
WSMV4‘s investigation would end up spreading beyond the borders of Tennessee, and the station has reported that sober people all over America are getting arrested for drunk driving. See the attached video:
The most recent report from the station detailed the story of Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper Asa Pearl. The station reported that 41 of Pearl’s arrests from 2021 to 2024 were dismissed. In eight of those cases, blood tests revealed no alcohol or drugs in their blood at all. In 14 of those cases, no drugs were found, and alcohol levels were below the legal limit. The 19 other cases were dropped for various reasons, including Pearl not showing up to court and Pearl not being able to remember the details of the arrest. Pearl resigned in 2024 with no reason given.
The Highway Patrol Responds
The Tennessee Highway Patrol says that the arrests were valid and that the quota story is false. WZTV Nashville has been conducting its own investigation for two years, and here’s what it reported in January 2026:
Tennessee Highway Patrol Col. Matt Perry testified before the Senate Transportation and Safety Committee on Wednesday. Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, asked Perry about news reports of people being arrested despite having no drugs or alcohol in their system.
“There’s certainly no quota like some of these articles have pushed,” Perry said. “A trooper’s job is to go out there and arrest every impaired driver, and in cases where people have come back with no blood alcohol or drugs in their system, we review every one of those.
“We have not had one case … and we have our experts in our department review those … we have not had one that they said, ‘Yeah, this was somebody that probably should not have been arrested,’” he said. “Every review we’ve done on all these cases, there’s evidence. There are indicators … field sobriety testing, roadside indicators … the odor of alcohol, the odor of certain drugs, bloodshot, watery eyes … slurred speech. We don’t smell alcohol and then go, ‘OK, we’re taking you to jail now.’”
WZTV Nashville questions how it’s possible that officers smelled alcohol on people who test negative for drugs or alcohol. It’s noted that, following a clean blood test report, courts dismiss these DUI cases.
Unfortunately, the reporting suggests that not much has changed. An attorney interviewed by WSMV4 ended the story with a chilling remark that “this could happen to your child. This could happen to your parent. This could happen to your coworker.” The mountain of evidence uncovered by WSMV4’s great journalists suggests that’s not an exaggeration.
I highly recommend reading the news station’s reporting on this because I’ve captured only a sliver of the more than a few dozen stories on the matter. Otherwise, drive safely. Put down the phone, call an Uber if you’re intoxicated, and don’t treat the road like a racetrack. Good luck!
Top image: Tennessee Highway Patrol
As a dad, that mom’s story is infuriating. NINE WEEKS without your child while they wait for blood work? I’d be apoplectic and have had a lawyer the next day to get my kid back, and I’d have sued that department for every penny they have after I was proved innocent.
I don’t go as far as saying “ACAB” (I do have cousins who are LEOs and from what I know of them and their upbringing, they couldn’t possibly be crooked), but stories like this sure make it hard.
Good article. You should consider expanding the coverage to the insanity that is the modern DUI law landscape.
For example, in Minnesota among other states you can be arrested for drunk driving without actually driving. If you’re drunk near your car and your keys are in your possession, that’s considered being in physical control of the car and a cop can arrest you.
There was one case in MN where a guy was drunk in his apartment, went down to his car to get something and passed out in the back seat. Cops arrested him for DUI. The police report even noted that the cop had felt the hood and the engine was cold, so he knew the guy hadn’t been driving, which makes sense because the car didn’t even run.
He got convicted of driving a car that couldn’t be driven while drunk, appealed, lost, appealed to the state supreme court, and lost there too.
This. If you’re going to sleep off your buzz in your car, hide your keys under a bush on the other side of the street. Don’t even have them in the car with you.
In Virginia, you can get a DUI for mowing your lawn with a rider mower while drinking (which I have to admit doing a few times).
“Our experts, paid by this agency to do work for this agency, agreed with the actions of this agency.”
This is why every agency should be audited and investigated by impartial outside agencies that are entirely independent. It’s not oversight if there’s a vested interest in protecting the agency.
Never take a field sobriety test. It is not required, and the test is designed for you to fail no matter what. You can be stone cold sober and you’ll still fail it. The hand held breathalizer is so unreliable that it is not admissible as evidence in court. Don’t do that either.
If you get pulled over and there’s alcohol on your breath, you’re going to jail. Opt for the blood test and lawyer up.
If you see a sobriety check ahead, turning around is not grounds for them to come after you. As we all know, any interaction with police has a non-zero chance of you getting killed, so it’s best to avoid them.
I remember one night just 2 days before my 21st birthday a friend and I were attending some party and sure enough the cops show up. There were several teenagers there and sure some were drinking but for whatever reason the cop zeroed in on me. He asked for IDs from my friend and I and as soon as he saw I was under 21 (by 2 days) he declared he was going to arrest me for “Minor in possession” and arrest my friend (who was just over 21) for “Contributing to the delinquency of a minor”. I laughed and as soon as word spread half the party was laughing because I’ve always been very vocally straight edge and was certainly sober that night. I noticed some of our friends were trying to herd the drunker partiers inside so I kept the attention on me and demanded 19 breathalyzers because I’ve never had a drink in my life. The cop started going on about how he could smell the alcohol (probably from the girl behind me) and he had 20 years of experience and knew for a fact I was drunk… I told him if he’d finished school maybe he’d have a better job which pissed him off to the point he missed all the drunks being snuck off behind the house.
In the end neither I nor my friend were arrested or cited with anything so I guess it worked but it shows that cops instincts and training aren’t always accurate.
stipulated that troopers on the midnight shift would be required to make 100 DUI arrests each year.
there’s certainly no quota
what do they think a quota is? Has anyone there ever worked in sales?
Playing devil’s advocate for a second here (I can’t believe I’m agreeing with a statement made by the Tennessee police department) – The point of arresting those deemed impaired isn’t necessarily wrong even if they aren’t drunk. You can be impaired without exceeding the legal blood alcohol limit, and you can stack a couple of factors (drowsy + a new medication or drowsy + 1 beer) and be impaired. Theoretically we want cops to be stopping drivers who aren’t capable of driving safely because they are somewhat impaired.
Now obviously there is a “ok, but what if they passed the field sobriety test and why was that officer’s body cam turned off” aspect to this that shouldn’t be glossed over. Cops gonna cop (and then resign for definately no reason).
But the real kicker here is the time it took to get the blood test results. What kind of rinky-dink operation are they running down there? The blood test can be turned around in hours if not less than an hour. “Months” isn’t an acceptable time frame whether these people are guilty or not.
This is the CSI effect. Most police departments don’t have a crime lab and need to send samples to an outside lab for testing.
On top of that, demand at the labs comes into play. We’ve waited over a week for results from “simple” blood test results, and that was at a children’s hospital that did have internal labs. Seems silly, but it’s not like they can go buy new machines/train new techs on the fly for temporary surges in testing demand.
I expect this kind of corruption in the South. Generally speaking, cops everywhere do have a quota to fulfill. There’s audio evidence in the Tennessee case. I don’t care how much they protest the accusations. It’s a matter of revenue.
uhhhh sleep deprivation much?
Lack of sleep closely mirrors alcohol impairment – re the COVID nurse who was being pushed to the brink at work and also solo parenting a 5 year old – the cops were super wrong, but without a doubt she was driving her child around in an impaired state. Doesn’t mean she should have been arrested and put through the wringer.
I don’t have a point – just sucks, and I bet a lot of these false DUI arrests are sleep deprived shift workers and healthcare workers who are displaying signs of impairment for that reason.
But why in the name of all that is holy wouldn’t you readily make breathalyzers available all the time so someone in this situation can’t just blow?
Well, maybe its because they had one drink and wouldn’t blow anyway, sometimes.
Good reporting by the original sources, and I am glad to see it highlighted here too. Rampant drunk driving was and is really really bad, policing individual behavior is really hard, and this shows how collateral damage can be done to innocent bystanders.
So much for “we don’t have quotas”.
Edit: I got sniped! @Grey alien in a beige sedan
“We don’t have quotas”
— TSP official statement
Well, I think THP probably/certainly doesnt.
But individual leaders like Captain Coo-Coo Face in the recording sure does.
So practically maybe it doesn’t matter.
It still comes down to individuals doing the work and like all things there are going to be plenty of a-holes who do in fact threaten to spank their employees for failing to gin up enough arrests. Ugh.
There’s a good chance that THP doesn’t have a policy that expressly creates quotas, but still indirectly creates them. They may even directly forbid individual arrest quotas, but expect certain numbers from each district. As a result, the lower level leadership feels the pressure and pressures the patrol officers, creating de facto (or explicit) quotas, despite policies against them.
I don’t know the exact situation, but it’s pretty common to have policies with unintended consequences and policies that end up at odds with each other.
Agree!
An important thing to know here for me would be if the behavior only *appears* like someone incapable of controlling a car, or if it actually poses a safety threat to others commensurate with drinking.
If the latter, then the 9 week turnaround and felony endangerment charges are still grossly excessive, but the rationale is at least understandable.
In any case, if quotas are actually being demanded, even if unofficially, then heads need to roll for this.
Whoa, cops are slimy and make shit up that hurts innocent people in order to meet bullshit quotas? In other news, the sky is blue. We live in a country where ICE is arresting and even deporting legal citizens, so this isn’t entirely shocking.
Just arresting? How about straight up murdering.
Oh yes, that too.
There is nothing that piss me off more than someone messing with an overworked nurse, specially during COVID. Leave them alone, they are already working understaffed and dealing with rude patients. If you are watching The Pitt on HBO, doctors are not the ones running the show, the reality is nurses are the ones doing everything.
My husband (Registered Nurse) already got pull over a couple times after a long night shift and he leaves his badge on plus a stethoscope hanging from the mirror to avoid our local police.
I was just about to post above but I will do it here. My wife is a 25+ year overnight ER nurse and drives with the scrubs and ID on when commuting to and from work. Also watching The Pitt with her is shocking, she called the maggot scene before it happened.
I tried for him to watch it but he works at DMC Downtown Detroit ER department that is the trauma center of the city. Gunshots almost everyday, he didnt continue since he said, why I want to watch what I deal with at work lol
A good reminder that you should always assert your right to counsel early and clearly. It doesn’t matter how innocent you are, you are always at a disadvantage. It’s not a bad idea to have an attorney’s business card in your glovebox.
Just do not reach into the glovebox while the officers are near or you will need a mortuary.
As I have heard it stated before:
The cop’s job is to find you guilty, not to determine if you are innocent – that’s someone else’s job.
Innocent people need lawyers too, and as shown in the case above sometimes they need them even quicker.
NOT SHOCKED!, Law enforcement quotas suck as does civil forfeiture.
Well, this DOJ is going to absolutely squat about this. Keep your head on a swivel my TN. Friends.
I’m sure it’s worse for those with out-of-state plates.