Governor Bill Lee has now signed 2025 Senate Bill 1166 into law. It is now designated as 2025 Public Chapter 327. This law originated due to the investigation by WSMV TV (Channel 4) in Nashville, Tennessee. They requested, analyzed and divulged how hundreds of innocent drivers have been wrongfully arrested for the crime of driving under the influence. More information from WSMV TV may be obtained here.
This new law requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to provide a report to the speakers of the Senate and the House of Representatives on or before January 1 each year detailing the instances where no alcohol or other intoxicants were detected in the person’s blood or breath after an arrest for driving under the influence. It is disappointing, however, to note that the provisions of this bill are to be repealed on July 1, 2029.
Although law-enforcement officers may have good intentions when stopping suspected intoxicated drivers to ensure our roads are safe, the fact of the matter is that no field sobriety test is always accurate. The detection methods to determine whether someone is under the influence of an intoxicant must be better scrutinized and improved to avoid arresting so many sober drivers.
Interestingly, for many years our law firm has been tracking the officers in Knox County, Anderson County, Blount County, Jefferson County, Sevier County, Loudon County, Roane County, and other counties in East Tennessee to determine which officers are arresting our clients when there is no intoxicant present. We encourage other law firms to do the same.
