‘I want my money back’: Sober people charged with DUI pay big for device they never needed — Thursday at 6 p.m.
One driver estimates she paid more than $1,000 for an ignition interlock device, even after blood work proved she was sober.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) — It was money Shelli Hoover didn’t have.
The ignition interlock device she was court-ordered to put on her car after being arrested for DUI cost $82 at the signing of the lease for the equipment. And the costs kept coming: $117 for “other charges,” and nearly $50 every two weeks. And that didn’t even include what she had to pay to have it installed in her car.
“I’m a single mom. I wasn’t even receiving child support then. It was terrible,” Hoover said.
Four months later, the blood work came back from the TBI: negative for alcohol, no drugs in her system.
Hoover is among the sober drivers charged with DUI interviewed by WSMV4 Investigates who are required to have the devices installed in their vehicles as a condition of their release, only to later get documented proof that they were never drunk in the first place.
“I asked my attorney. Can I get my money back? And she said no,” said Angie Blankenship, another sober driver charged with DUI who was required to pay for the device. “I thought I was innocent until proven guilty.”
Thursday at 6 p.m. on WSMV4, you’ll see why even after her charge was dismissed, Hoover said she’s still being charged by the company.
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