Latest sober driver charged with DUI was in jail for 36 hours

UNION CITY, Tenn. (WSMV) - On July 21, 2024, Carly Hicks arrived at the park in Union City, a town in West Tennessee, driving her father’s car.

She would leave it in the back of a police cruiser.

Charged with DUI, she would spend the next 36 hours in jail, waiting to see a judicial commissioner before she could be released. Months later, her bloodwork would reveal she was completely sober the entire time.

“It’s something about sitting in a cell from sun up, and you start to see the sun go down, and you start to think, ‘Am I going to get out of here? Like, I’m in here for no reason,‘” Hicks told WSMV4 Investigates.

Hicks is the latest person in Tennessee found by WSMV4 Investigates to be sober at the time of their arrest for DUI.

Our investigation uncovered TBI data that shows between 2017 and 2023, 609 people have been arrested in Tennessee for DUI while they were sober.

Having traveled to her home city for a baby shower that day, she and her boyfriend had driven to the park to relax when a police officer pulled up, alerting them that the park had closed.

Hicks told the officer that she had unopened alcohol in her vehicle, but it wouldn’t be the alcohol that would get in trouble.

“Is there any marijuana in the vehicle?” the officer can be heard asking on the body camera footage.

“No sir,” both Hicks and her boyfriend respond.

“Cause I can smell it, that’s what I was asking,” the officer said.

On the body camera, Hicks admits to smoking marijuana four days earlier at her apartment, but is adamant that she hadn’t smoked that day or evening.

She also readily agreed to a field sobriety test, telling WSMV4 Investigates that she felt she performed well.

On the body camera video, the officer looks through the vehicle and finds a wrapper that appears to have crumbled remnants of marijuana inside.

“I’m not charging you with it, but I am going to throw this away,” the officer said.

Following the field sobriety test, Hicks is told that she will need to have someone get her and the car. “I can drive,” Hicks responds.

“Based off what we just saw, that’s a no,” the officer said.

“But I haven’t done anything today,” Hicks said.

Hicks then said she can call her sister, and the officer tells her that’s acceptable.

Hicks then gets on the phone with her father, relaying what officers are doing, stating that the officers didn’t find anything in her car to indicate she was impaired.

Upon saying that, the officer approaches with handcuffs.

“Alright, you’re going to be under arrest,” the officer said.

“Sir, (my dad’s) coming. He’s coming,” Hicks said, holding out her phone. “No. sir, please. This is my dad, please.”

“I’ll talk to him in a second, for now, put your hands behind your back,” the officer said.

The officer then handcuffs Hicks, explaining to her father that she performed poorly on the field sobriety test.

Hicks was then driven to jail, agreed to a blood test and said she remained there for 36 hours until she could see a judicial commissioner.

Months later, her bloodwork showed she was completely sober at the time of her arrest.

“You’re being accused endangering innocent lives on the road. I would never do anything like that to anyone,” Hicks said. “My mugshot went around on display. Just tarnishing my reputation. As if I would put people’s lives in danger on the road.”

LOBBYING LAWMAKERS

Labreesha Batey understands Hicks’ experience all too well. On May 16, 2024, the Harvest, Alabama woman was driving home from Nashville after making funeral arrangements for her grandmother, when she was pulled over by state trooper Nathan Methwins for speeding.

She was then arrested for DUI, but her bloodwork later came back to show she was completely sober.

“It was a traumatic experience,” Batey said.

An employee of NASA, Batey decided she was going to take action, emailing every lawmaker in the state of Tennessee, sending them proposed legislation to address she calls a “crisis.”

“I’ve since learned that, due to your work, and everything that is going on, that over 600 have endured similar to what I have experienced. So for me, it was like, ‘How do we go about change in this area?’” Batey said.

Batey traveled to Nashville in December, meeting with lawmakers and staff to tell her story.

“How do we go about looking at something that is so broken to bring change, so this cannot happen again,” Batey said.

WSMV4 Investigates will be monitoring to see if lawmakers take any action during the 2025 legislative session.

If there’s something you want us to know for this story or about anything else, please email Jeremy.finley@wsmv.com.