41 DUI Arrests Made By One Tennessee State Trooper Dismissed, Investigation Reveals

In theory, you can't catch a driving-under-the-influence charge if you don't drink and drive, but that's not necessarily the case in Tennessee, where they have a little problem with cops arresting legally sober drivers for DUI. Earlier this year, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation admitted the number of "sober DUI" arrests was at least four times higher than had been previously reported, and now, a new investigation from Tennessee's WSMV4 News found that one Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper had 41 DUI arrests thrown out in court, more than half of which involved sober drivers. 

According to the Bedford County Clerk's office's records, the county threw out 41 DUI arrests made by former Tennessee State Trooper Asa Pearl between 2021 and 2024, with 22 of those cases involving drivers who were later shown to not have blood-alcohol-content levels above the legal limit. In 14 of those 22 cases, the drivers had some alcohol in their systems at the time of their arrest, but in at least eight cases, the drivers arrested tested negative for both drugs and alcohol. The other 19 DUI cases were reportedly dropped for other reasons, "including Pearl being unavailable for court or unable to recall details of the arrests, according to the district attorney's office."

One of those "sober DUI" arrests was Ron LaFlamme, who has maintained from the beginning that "[i]t was wrongful arrest," only to see himself largely vindicated as more evidence emerges, supporting the claim that there's a systematic issue in the state of Tennessee. As his lawyer, David McKenzie, told WSMV4, "I know that during the time that Ron's case was making its way through the court, Ron's case was not the only one with this particular trooper, where blood results were coming back negative." McKenzie later added, "It tells me there was a systemic problem with what he was doing on the side of the road."

To add another layer of intrigue to this entire situation, Pearl resigned in 2024, and there is no reason for his resignation recorded in his file. When WSMV4 reached out for a comment, neither Pearl nor the Tennessee Highway Patrol responded. That alone certainly isn't proof of a coverup, but it sure does look suspicious. Pearl's silence doesn't just extend to the media, either. He also reportedly never apologized to LaFlamme after falsely arresting him for DUI.

"This could happen to your child. This could happen to your parent. This could happen to your coworker," McKenzie told WSMV4. And while victims may ultimately be able to prove their innocence, that one false accusation could be enough for them to lose their job, making it even more difficult to afford the thousands and thousands of dollars they'll have to pay a lawyer to defend them. 

However, if you ask the head of the THP, there's no actual problem here. As WSMV4 wrote back in January:

Perry said the THP is reviewing DUI arrests where bloodwork later showed no alcohol or drugs. He said the agency has not found cases where arrests were inappropriate.

"We've not had one that they said, 'Yeah, this was somebody that probably shouldn't have been arrested,'" Perry said.

When asked by WSMV4 Investigates if all arrested individuals were actually not sober, Perry said he could not answer because he had not reviewed all cases.

Perry said TBI blood tests do not test for every drug. He maintained that drivers with clean bloodwork are not necessarily sober drivers.

"They're not sober drivers. They might have come back with nothing from the TBI lab in their system, but that doesn't make them a sober driver," Perry said.

See? You've just got to trust them. They may not be able to prove those drivers aren't sober, but that shouldn't matter in a court of law. If that trusty Cop Intuition says they're guilty, why even bother with evidence? Just lock 'em up, your honor, and don't bother keeping the key.