A police official thought a man looking drunk and charged the man with DUI where as in real the man turned out to be sober man. Jessie Thornton, 64, was pulled over this weekend in Surprise, Arizona for drunk driving. But Thornton wasn’t drunk. He took a breathalyzer test and registered a 0.000 blood alcohol level. Still, officers arrested the sober man for a DUI because they just knew that he was drunk.
A sober man DUI case is trending among surprising stories in the news this week, as MSN reported this Monday, June 10, that a 61-year-old was recently arrested for a DUI for simply looking drunk, and the victim believes it’s because he is black.
Thornton said: “’An officer walked up and he said ‘I can tell you’re driving DUI by looking in your eyes.’ I take my glasses off and he says, ‘You’ve got bloodshot eyes.’ I do the breathalyzer and it comes back zero, zero, zero.” The 64-year-old man was then taken to the police station where he was examined by a DRE, drug recognition expert.
Thornton told ABC News: “After he did all the tests, he says, ‘I would never have arrested you, you show no signs of impairment.’ ” Thornton wasn’t drinking that night but he still suffered the consequences of a DUI. His car was impounded and the Arizona MVD suspended his license and ordered that he take a drinking and driving class.
Thornton is now filing a claim against the city of Surprise for $50,000. The 64-year-old man said that the real reason why he was pulled over is that he was “driving while black.”
Thornton said: “It was driving while black. I just don’t want any of this to happen to somebody else.”
A sober man DUI case is trending among surprising stories in the news this week, as MSN reported this Monday, June 10, that a 61-year-old was recently arrested for a DUI for simply looking drunk, and the victim believes it’s because he is black.
Thornton said: “’An officer walked up and he said ‘I can tell you’re driving DUI by looking in your eyes.’ I take my glasses off and he says, ‘You’ve got bloodshot eyes.’ I do the breathalyzer and it comes back zero, zero, zero.” The 64-year-old man was then taken to the police station where he was examined by a DRE, drug recognition expert.
Thornton told ABC News: “After he did all the tests, he says, ‘I would never have arrested you, you show no signs of impairment.’ ” Thornton wasn’t drinking that night but he still suffered the consequences of a DUI. His car was impounded and the Arizona MVD suspended his license and ordered that he take a drinking and driving class.
Thornton is now filing a claim against the city of Surprise for $50,000. The 64-year-old man said that the real reason why he was pulled over is that he was “driving while black.”
Thornton said: “It was driving while black. I just don’t want any of this to happen to somebody else.”