State police wrongfully arrest seven separate sober drivers for DUI

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - At just before 6:00 on the humid evening of June 23, Stephanie Fair was about to find out that she was in double trouble.

On the shoulder of Armory Drive, she’d been pulled over by state Trooper Keith Velez for failing to move over.

On Velez’s body camera footage, he does not hide his frustration in talking to a fellow trooper.

“She almost f****** hit me when I was wrapping up a traffic stop,” Velez can be heard saying. “I just come up to the car, and it just reeks of alcohol.”

In the video, Fair apologizes for failing to yield and is confused when Velez states that he smells alcohol.

“There’s a very distinct odor of alcohol that comes from either the person or inside the vehicle,” Velez said.

“Right. I understand. But on my life, I don’t drink alcohol,” Fair responds.

It’s a claim she repeats several times as she undergoes a field sobriety test. Velez’s notes from the arrest said she displayed clues of being intoxicated.

“When he started asking me about drinking, I instantly got this feeling in my stomach - this is bad,” Fair told WSMV4 Investigates.

“He clearly states he could smell the odor of alcohol beverage,” WSMV4 Investigates told her.

“Yeah. When he said he could smell it, I knew it was corrupt. This is completely wrong,” Fair said.

Fair was arrested and charged with DUI.

When her bloodwork came back in its totality two months later, it showed she had neither alcohol nor drugs in her system.

In fact, when Fair hired attorney Ben Raybin to represent her, he pulled video of where she’d been the hour before driving.

Not a bar, but an ice cream shop in Brentwood.

“If this could happen to me completely sober…” Fair said. “It was just like, very scary.”

Candace Slate can sympathize.

On Jan 17, 2023, a state police report from Trooper Clint Cooper reads that Slate accidentally crashed into a truck backing onto a MAPCO construction site on Quarry Loop Road in Wilson County.

She was coming from her job as a house cleaner when the crash caused her to flip her vehicle.

In body camera footage after the crash, Slate is asked to perform a field sobriety test, which she readily agrees to do.

She does, however, indicate that her leg hurts as she begins the test.

“It’s hurting to do that on my knees,” she says in the video, reaching down to hold her thigh. “Ow, that really hurts.”

An unidentified trooper asks her if she can continue and then encourages her to do so.

Slate said she knew she would fail the test.

“I know I bombed it. I was in shock,” Slate told WSMV4 Investigates.

When Slate is handcuffed and told she is under arrest for a DUI, she responds by saying, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I thought, I’m going to lose my daughter, I can’t lose her. I can’t lose my license. This is my life,” Slate said.

Knowing she was sober, she at first tried to proceed in her criminal case without a lawyer, until she said she was advised that she would need legal representation.

Slate said she paid her attorney several thousand dollars and ultimately received her bloodwork, which showed no alcohol present in her system.

On the paperwork for the dismissal of the DUI, it is documented that Slate’s blood work showed low levels of her prescription medication.

“I ended up broke, trying to prove my innocence, and yes, I won, but I’m terrified to drive now,” Slate said.

Labreesha Batey understands the sentiment as well. On May 16, 2024, the Harvest, Alabama woman was driving home from Nashville after making funeral arrangements for her grandmother, when she was pulled over by Trooper Nathan Methwins for speeding.

As stated in her complaint letter to the THP, Batey said she misunderstood Methwins’ instructions to drive up about a half mile up the road to a “Gross Road” to continue the conversation.

Batey said she drove slowly with his hazards on, unable to find anything called Gross Road, and eventually pulled over.

Batey said the trooper then turned on his sirens and rushed to her vehicle, ordering her out of the car, to get on the ground and to put her hands behind her back.

Batey said Methwins angrily asked if she didn’t understand what he told her, explaining that he said to drive to the guard rails.

At that point, Batey said Methwins asked if she’d been drinking or using drugs.

Batey said she’d never used either in her life.

After conducting a field sobriety test, Batey was handcuffed, charged with DUI.

Months later, her bloodwork showed she was completely sober, with neither alcohol nor drugs in her system.

“It has had a traumatic impact on me,” Batey said. “There is an issue. There is a real issue in Tennessee.”

The three are the latest cases WSMV4 Investigates has uncovered of sober drivers being arrested by troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

In all, we have identified seven different sober drivers arrested by state troopers.

WSMV4 Investigates also documented the DUI arrests of sober drivers Reid Hawley, Henry Esslinger, Keith VonSoosten and Thomas Manis.

Manis is currently suing the THP for his arrest.

While WSMV4 Investigates uncovered TBI data between 2017 and 2023 that shows 609 people have been arrested in Tennessee for DUI but were completely sober at the time, the TBI states they do not track which agencies made the wrongful arrests.

It is unclear how many of the 609 arrests were made by the THP. Both Batey and Fair were arrested in 2024, which means their cases are in addition to the 609.

“When you look at the sheer number of people, it’s clear we need to do something differently so this doesn’t continue to happen to anybody,” said Raybin.

WSMV4 Investigates is documenting each time a driver contacts us to create a database, verifying their claims with bloodwork and arrest reports.

Each of the seven sober people arrested by state troopers for DUI were able to prove their claims by providing documentation.

WSMV4 Investigates shared all our documentation with state police and asked for an interview for three days.

A spokesman for the THP said they continue to review our findings.

WSMV4 Investigates also shared our findings with Matthew Malhoit, a forensic alcohol consultant and trainer in Atlanta who routinely testifies in both criminal and civil cases associated with DUI.

“Something’s wrong. Somebody’s not following the proper standards,” Malhoit said.

Malhoit said he’d encourage the state’s police agencies to take quick action.

“Establish an independent commission to determine the cause. whether it’s training, whether it’s bad officers, whether it’s misunderstanding of the proper procedures,” Malhoit said. “Whatever the state of Tennessee needs to do to fix this problem, they need to take affirmative, positive steps immediately.”

If there’s something you want us to know for this story or anything else, email Jeremy.Finley@wsmv.com

Copyright 2024 WSMV. All rights reserved.