Challenging a DUI Arrest Made After Passing Sobriety Tests

Attorney Answer

If the officer told you that you passed the field sobriety tests and then arrested you on the smell of alcohol alone, you have a real probable-cause issue. But the way to fight it is a motion to suppress inside the criminal case — not a claim of "unlawful arrest" — and the blood evidence is the piece that matters most.

The governing law. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-406 is Tennessee's implied-consent statute. It governs the consequences of refusing chemical testing. Note what it does not do: it does not supply the probable-cause standard for an arrest, and it does not by itself authorize taking your blood without a warrant. Those are Fourth Amendment questions, decided on the facts of your stop and your draw — not answered by the implied-consent form.

So your case has two separate lines of attack.

*Was there probable cause to arrest?* The question is what the officer actually observed beyond odor of alcohol, and whether his report matches the recording. If he said on camera that you passed the field sobriety tests, that recording is the most valuable piece of evidence in your entire case — and it is also the piece most likely to be overwritten on a retention schedule while you wait for a court date.

*Was the blood draw lawful?* Ask for the search warrant and the supporting affidavit. If there was no warrant, make the State say what it claims justified the draw. An implied-consent statute is not a substitute for a warrant.

The paperwork problem. You were given nothing but a court date. That has two consequences: you may not know precisely what you were charged with, and if any licence notice was issued you may not have received it or realized what it was. Fix that this week, not at your first court appearance.

Your commercial licence. You drive public transport. Commercial licence disqualification runs on its own rules, separate from the criminal case and separate from your personal driving privilege, and it carries its own reporting obligations. Talk to a lawyer about the CDL consequences *before* you say anything to your employer, a dispatcher, or a DOT medical examiner. What you say to an employer is not privileged.

What you can do

1. Have counsel send a written evidence-preservation demand immediately for the in-car and body-worn camera video from *both* officers — the trainer and the trainee — plus the booking-area video. Do this first; everything else can wait a week, this cannot. 2. Obtain the arrest paperwork: the affidavit of complaint, the arrest report, the officer's field notes, the citation, and any licence or implied-consent notice. 3. Request specifically the blood-draw search warrant and its affidavit, the implied-consent form if you signed one, and the lab report with the chain of custody. 4. Write down today, in your own words, exactly what the officer said to you about passing the tests — his words as best you recall them, where you were standing, and whether the trainee was present. 5. Retain counsel and have a suppression motion evaluated on both grounds: the arrest and the blood draw. They are distinct arguments and both should be considered. 6. Do not discuss the facts with your employer, your insurer, or anyone on social media.

⏱ Time limits apply. Deal with the licence side first. Because you were handed no paperwork at all, any window to contest a licence action may be running without your knowing it — these windows are commonly measured in days from the notice, not months, and they do not pause while you wait for a court date. The licence matter is a separate track from the criminal charge, with a different standard of proof; the two can come out differently on the same stop, and a good result in one does not resolve the other. Have a lawyer pull your driver record and check your notice status this week.