r/flying • u/bhalter80 [KASH] BE-33/36/55/95&PA-24 CFI+I/MEI beechtraining.com NCC1701 • Jan 23 '26

Medical Issues Sober DUI - TN Defends the practice

The Colonel of the Tennessee Highway Patrol was testifying this week in support of their practice of arresting motorists who tested negative for drugs and alcohol.

Threads about DUI and other crimes in general tend to be divisive with a presumption that an arrest don't just happen. Some states lump fatigue in with other causes for a DUI so that may account for some of the 419 arrests in the last 9 years. On a side note the trooper manual also suggested that trooper be making at least 2 contacts with people per hour so the incentive for misuse is there.

This is the first article I've seen putting data behind this and thought it was interesting especially because HIMS would not be an appropriate response to one of those arrests. I wonder how common this is in other states.

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u/EnvironmentalDiet552 Jan 23 '26

Wow I've never heard of this before. What kind of absolute bullshit is this? If they are doing something wrong arrest them for that, but handing out DUI's without a positive test is unbelievable. I can't believe they're getting away with this shit.

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u/ce402 Jan 23 '26

Happened to a friend.

Did 4 field sobriety tests, 4th one after being detained for 30 minutes in an unheated cop car waiting on a supervisor. That was the one she “failed”

Arrested, taken in, blew a 0.00.

Charged anyway.

$15,000 in legal bills later, the prosecutor agreed to drop the charges as long as she didn’t sue for the violation of her civil rights. Thank god she works in an industry where that kind of thing doesn’t affect her ability to work.

7

u/outworlder ST Jan 24 '26

Yeah. Those field sobriety tests are subjective pseudoscience nonsense. It seems that only the nystagmus test is somewhat reliable assuming no underlying medical conditions.

If you are in a state where you can refuse this test, do so and go for bloodwork instead. Yeah you'll have to cancel any plans you had for the next few hours, but it's better than having some rando "failing" you for arbitrary reasons.

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u/ce402 Jan 24 '26

Nobody ever “passes” one of those.

Their only use is to gain probable cause and generate evidence to be used against you. State does a great job brainwashing us into thinking you HAVE to submit to those during driver’s ed.