No Arresting People Who Pass Sobriety Tests, Says TN Court

Defendant passed six tests, so let him go already

A Tennessee motorist who passed six roadside sobriety tests should not have been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), the state Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Friday. The three-judge panel rejected the attempt by prosecutors to overturn a trial court's finding that David D. Bell should not have been taken into custody on January 12, 2010 after he displayed "excellent" mental acuity after being pulled over by a county sheriff's deputy.

Bell had made a wrong turn in a construction area, briefly driving on the wrong side of the road -- a mistake that a number of other confused drivers had made that day. Sevierville Police Officer Timothy Russell, who had extensive DUI training, arrived on the scene to take over from the deputy. Russell asked Bell to perform a four-finger count; say the alphabet from the letter G to S; identify the year of his fifth, sixth or seventh birthday; perform a one-legged stand while counting to thirty; and do a nine-step walk-and-turn. On the stand, Officer Russell testified that his mental performance was excellent, but that Bell "did not plant and turn as I had instructed him to." So Russell placed Bell under arrest.