- Jane Bondurant, a former U.S. Attorney, says she was wrongly arrested for DUI by TN State Police.
- She’s the eighth sober driver arrested and reportedly the 16th by THP in recent months.
- Governor Lee pointed to new transparency laws, but Bondurant says the problem isn’t solved.
The list of sober drivers arrested for DUI in Tennessee keeps growing, raising serious questions about how the state enforces impaired driving laws. Because portable breath test results are not admissible in Tennessee courts, officers often rely on standard field sobriety tests, which can be unreliable. The latest arrest caught public attention not only for its circumstances, but also for who was involved: a former US Attorney.
var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};
adpushup.que.push(function() {
if (adpushup.config.platform !== “DESKTOP”){
adpushup.triggerAd(“0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8”);
} else {
adpushup.triggerAd(“82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f”);
}
});
Read: Fake News About New Driving License Rules For Drivers 70 And Older Spread Online
That driver is 71-year-old Jane Bondurant, and police arrested her after a minor fender bender with a local police officer. State trooper Sam Zahn showed up and conducted a field sobriety test on Bondurant. He claimed in his report that she had “bloodshot watery eyes” and showed signs of impairment.
Test Results Tell a Different Story
After the arrest in November of 2024, authorities sent off Bondurant’s blood sample and the results vindicated her. Aside from a sleep medication she’d taken the night before, her blood was free of drugs or alcohol. Prosecutors dropped the charge, but she was anything but satisfied. “Shock was the first reaction. Trauma. And the trauma lasted for months,” Bondurant told WSMV. “I think I’m eight people too many.”
Of the 16 cases of sober DUI arrests that WSMV has uncovered, eight were done by Trooper Zahn. Notably, authorities across the state have arrested over 600 sober people for DUI since 2017. That wave of false positives has led to some positive changes. Governor Bill Lee touted a new law that requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to collect data on sober drivers wrongly arrested for DUI.
The Hidden Fallout
That report won’t include the fallout from such incidents, though. For example, Bondurant lost her insurance coverage over the arrest. No doubt, she’s far from the only person impacted to that degree, and it’s likely that others have faced more challenging circumstances. One affected individual said of the situation, “My life, for the last 17, 18 months, has been a nightmare.” Hopefully, Tennessee can sort itself out. Drivers in the state will be grateful.
View this post on Instagramvar adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};
adpushup.que.push(function() {
if (adpushup.config.platform !== “DESKTOP”){
adpushup.triggerAd(“bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c”);
} else {
adpushup.triggerAd(“9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751”);
}
});