TN DUI News

A 77-year old grandmother was arrested for driving under the influence in Tennessee after leading cops on a brief chase. Syble Dickens ignored the flashing emergency lights and siren of Henry County deputies and dodged spike strips. When finally stopped she said she was still having a "good time".

Dickens was charged with drunken driving in Tennessee, speeding, failure to stop and several additional offenses. Her 20-year grandson reportedly slept through the entire incident. He was charged with public intoxication.

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An Army soldier stationed at Fort Campbell has been indicted by a grand jury for driving under the influence in Tennessee and for severely injuring another motorist. Joseph C. Pergram crossed the center line of a highway with his SUV on July 7 and struck the vehicle of Lori Teague head-on. Pergram fled the scene on foot and was found in the woods by Tennessee Highway Patrol deputies about 90 minutes later. According to the arrest warrant, he was impaired by Xanax and beer.

Pergram, 25, was formally charged with Tennessee DUI, vehicular assault, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident. He will be arraigned in Circuit Court in September. Pergram has a prior conviction for DUI from November 2009.

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An Elizabethton Police officer noticed a car being driven with deployed airbags and initiated a traffic stop. That observation lead to an arrest on multiple charges, before the accident that caused the airbags to pop was reported.

After motorist Adam Leibers was stopped, he admitted to being drunk and to hitting another vehicle. While conducting an ensuing field investigation, the 911 emergency center reported a nearby hit-and-run accident.

Leibers, 24, was charged with DUI in Tennessee and leaving the scene of an accident.

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Lonnie Michael Haney was stopped in Olive Springs, just outside the Oak Ridge city limit, in East Tennessee and charged with DUI. Haney was riding his John Deere lawnmower at the time. The arresting officer said that Haney was swerving down a major 4-lane boulevard. The suspect exhibited signs of intoxication, including slurred speech, a strong odor of alcohol and red glossy eyes. Haney, 46, failed a field sobriety test and refused to submit to additional tests. He said he was driving to Hilltop Market in Oak Ridge. The officer had to place a protective helmet on Haney because he continued to bash his head against the protective cage in the police cruiser. It was Haney's fifth arrest for driving under the influence in Tennessee, and charge was filed as a felony. He was also charged with refusal to submit to a breath or blood test – a violation of Tennessee's implied consent law – and for driving with a suspended license.

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The Metro Police in Nashville use 12 special vehicles for targeted patrols that have a dashboard camera to record arrests. The video evidence is downloaded from hard drives in the vehicles to the police department server. In late May a software update by a third-party vendor caused the loss of about 1300 videos made during aggressive driving and Tennessee DWI traffic stops.

The system is maintained by ICOP Digital in Kansas, and the company can remote access the server for upgrades. Bad code changed certain settings on the server and led to the loss of 1600 videos, and their back-up, from arrests made between October and April. ICOP was able to recover 200 files and the police department salvaged 100 more. The loss of the videos has led to prosecutors to begin dropping charges of driving under the influence in Tennessee from court dockets. An Assistant District Attorney says that the lack of evidence definitely hurts the prosecution of cases. A Metro police spokesperson says the department is "pretty incensed".

Nashville DUI defense attorney Tommy Overton says that the situation could impact defendants too. Sometimes the video shows the driver does not appear to be impaired, and without the contrary evidence the jury may place more weight on the police officer's testimony.

Metro police have six specially equipped squad cars for TN DUI patrols, four for cracking down on aggressive driving and two used by a deadly accident team. The $100,000 system has been in place since late 2008. The department has begun looking into alternative systems where files cannot be deleted, including one that burns images to DVDs.

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A helicopter pilot for the THP has been grounded following an arrest for driving under the influence in Tennessee. Gregory Brown was stopped a few miles from his Crossville home on July 30 after a police officer saw him swerving down the road and briefly cross into oncoming traffic. Brown failed a series of field sobriety tests and refused to submit to a breath test. The arresting officer noted that a cup of beer was in the center console of Brown's pick-up truck.

Brown was charged with Tennessee DUI and a violation of the state's implied consent law. TN DUI law establishes that anyone refusing to have their blood alcohol content tested is subject to a one year suspension of driver's license.

Brown, 40, has been a THP trooper since 1997 and a helicopter pilot since 2007. He is one of four pilots working for the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Brown has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation into the incident.

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A 48-year old Germanton woman was charged with DUI in Tennessee after police found her slumped over the steering wheel of her car in front of a middle school. Thursday morning Kelly Moss was found partly parked on the school driveway and sidewalk. According to the arrest report, Moss displayed slurred speech and was unable to stand or walk without assistance. Her breath also had a strong odor of vanilla.

An officer found cans of Diet Coke and partially empty bottles of vanilla extract in the front seat of the vehicle. The extract was 35 per cent alcohol by volume.

Moss refused to submit to a breath test or perform field sobriety tests. She was booked for driving under the influence in Tennessee. It is her third TN DUI arrest. Her bond was set at $4000.

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A Clarksville, Tennessee woman has been arrested for driving under the influence four times in four months. Nicole Santos was arrested June 27, 2010 after her car left the road and traveled nearly the length of a football field, knocking down three light poles. She was driving home from a bar.

Santos, who turned 21 early this year, had previously been arrested for DUI in Tennessee on February 2, April 10 and May 21. She was also convicted of drunk driving in 2007, when she was 18 years old.

Santos' bond was set at $5000, which she posted within a few hours of her arrest. She has not been to court on any of the recent TN DUI arrests, and the 2007 conviction is the only current mark on her driving record.

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A German national being held in an East Tennessee jail for a drunk driving accident that killed a Blountville man has asked to serve his jail sentence in Germany. Wolfgang Christ was sentenced to eight years in state prison last October after pleading no contest to vehicular homicide. He was involved in a crash in May 2006 that killed 33 year old Todd Harr. Christ cited wanting to be closer to his children and family members for the reason for the transfer.

The prosecutor in the case has opposed the request, stating that the offense took place in Sullivan County, it was where the victim in the case resided and where Christ was sentenced. There was a concern that the Tennessee prison system would lose control over Christ's sentence if he were transferred to Germany. In addition Tennessee's constitution establishes that victims of crime have the right to be present at all stages of the criminal process, including potential parole hearings. Christ's sentence includes possible parole after serving 30% of his jail term.

The family of the victim has said that the request for transfer has brought renewed memories of their son and the Tennessee drunk driving incident. They want assurances that Christ remains incarcerated and makes restitution for his actions.

According to prison records, Christ will be eligible for parole on November 20, 2011.

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