CHATTANOOGA, Tenn — Hundreds of Tennesseans have been arrested for DUI even though they hadn’t been drinking or using drugs. Now, a former Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper is breaking her silence on why those arrests happened.
Ashley Smith, who patrolled the state for more than two years, says pressure from within the Highway Patrol contributed to the problem.
I, for one, have been pressured into making a DUI arrest that I didn’t agree with,” Smith says. “When your captain says you do what your supervisor tells you to do, that’s what you do.
Smith says the expectations were clear in evaluations. Internal DUI maps we obtained showed arrests by county, and troopers were expected to monitor their numbers.
If your number wasn’t at the top, then you weren’t doing good enough,” she says. “It was DUI. DUI, DUI. You felt the pressure…