Sober drivers arrested for DUI often have one thing in common: Medical problems

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WSMV) - David Dutton is used to the jokes around the pool hall about what he does and doesn’t drink.

The 75-year-old Rutherford County man said tea is his usual pick, even while being surrounded by people drinking alcohol.

“They kid me about being drunk, and they all know that I don’t drink,” Dutton said.

So, when he was pulled over on August 18, 2023, after driving with a headlight out and drifting on the shoulder, body camera footage showed him telling deputies that he wasn’t drunk or on drugs.

“Don’t drink, don’t smoke?” asked Rutherford County Deputy Zach Williams. “I’m getting too damn old,” Dutton laughs.

But that night, Dutton would be arrested, booked and jailed on suspicion of DUI.

Williams, the arresting officer, was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving in 2023 as a “top enforcer” in Rutherford County, for making the most arrests in 2022.

It would take five months of waiting for his blood test to prove what he already knew: he was completely sober at the time.

His son, David Dutton Jr. said the impact on his father while awaiting the blood test results was apparent.

‘The stress level was really bad. I thought, wow, this is actually how I lose my dad. I thought he would have a heart attack,” Dutton Jr. said.

Dutton is the latest person identified by WSMV4 Investigates for being sober and arrested for a DUI in Middle Tennessee.

This is also the latest instance that shows a commonality between several of these cases: the sober person being arrested had health problems.

In Dutton’s case, body camera footage clearly shows why he was under suspicion: when deputies approached him, he held out his debit card instead of his ID.

He then performed badly on field sobriety tests, including wobbling while walking a straight line and counting while standing on one foot.

But Dutton also answered deputies’ questions about his health, including that he’s diabetic and hadn’t taken his insulin shot yet. He also acknowledges having a bad back.

“Been dealing with a disc for 45 years?” asked Williams.

“Yes,” Dutton said.

According to the arrest report, Dutton also passed the “Gaze Nystagmus” test, which indicates by eye movement if a person is impaired.

In that report, Williams notes that Dutton said that he does not have any other physical restrictions.

But Dutton Jr. said his now 76-year-old father failed to mention one major health issue. “My dad has had vertigo for ten years,” Dutton Jr. said.

In examining the body camera footage from Dutton’s arrest, along with the body camera footage available in the arrests of other sober people for DUIs, we found a common theme: health problems.

For instance, a Murfreesboro man arrested for DUI while sober was bowlegged — and two other sober people arrested for DUI have ADHD, which can make it harder for people to pay attention to instructions.

Scott Kimberly, an attorney who did not represent Dutton but estimates he’s represented 10-15 sober drivers arrested for DUI, said there’s a problem with police officers feeling like they have to arrest someone suspected of a DUI, even if they have medical problems.

In Dutton’s body camera footage, before he performs the field sobriety test, you can hear Williams say, “Never known a sober person to shoot pool much.”

“If you show up on a crime scene looking for someone to arrest, you will find someone to arrest,” Kimberly said.

Scott believes police officers need enhanced training on how health problems can cause people to fail field sobriety tests. “Help to explain that non-drug explanations could exist for what may otherwise look like criminal conduct,” Scott said.

For more than a week, WSMV4 Investigates requested interviews with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and Williams, but a spokeswoman for the department declined our request.

Instead, she sent a statement, reading in part, “We understand that in some rare cases, blood tests return indicating no drugs or alcohol. In those cases, the charges are dismissed, but that does not mean that probable cause did not exist at the time of the arrest.”

Dutton said the “probable cause” in his case caused him to sink to new levels of humiliation. “It was embarrassing because I had to call a neighbor - my cousin really - who lives two houses down - at 3:00 in the morning to come to get me, tell him was in jail,” Dutton said.

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