‘Sober DUI’ arrests 4x higher than previously reported, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation admits – Jalopnik

That information would never have been released if Fox 17 had not done so started its own investigation addressed the issue several years ago, where it was found that many of those charged with “sober DUIs” were older and more likely to have problems with sobriety tests. That research also found that “the majority of law enforcement agencies in Middle Tennessee no longer use Breathalyzers. So even though many of these people are seen on police body camera footage requesting a Breathalyzer, they were denied.”

At the time, the TBI claimed they preferred blood tests because breathalyzers only test for alcohol and the results are not admissible in court. However, the fact that it can take months before the results of those blood tests are known did not seem to be a problem. But ultimately that Fox 17 investigation led to the passage of a new state law that required authorities to provide more information about how many people are charged with sober driving under the influence and which departments arrested them.

That law also had another major advocate in LaBreesha Batey, a NASA engineer who nearly lost her career when she was arrested for drunken driving and later convicted, even though she claims never to have drunk alcohol in her life and test results showed there were no drugs or alcohol in her system. In addition to filing a lawsuit, Batey lobbied lawmakers hard, urging them to support the bill that later passed unanimously.

“It’s still hard to relive that experience,” Batey told Fox 17. “My reputation: They screwed me over. That alone threatens my job and my career.”

One of the bill’s sponsors, Senator Raumesh Akbari, also spoke to Fox 17 and said, “I think the list just confirmed that this is a real problem in Tennessee.” She also has questions for law enforcement, asking, “Is this a training issue? Is this a procedural issue? Is it specific to a particular county or law enforcement agency?” In the future, Akbari plans to work with authorities to create legislation to reduce the number of sober DUIs, but figuring out how to do this properly may take some time.

“You don’t want people to experience the nightmare of a false arrest and all the financial, psychological and emotional problems that come with it,” she told Fox 17. “And we also don’t want people who are really drunk driving on the road and potentially injuring themselves or killing others.”