A former Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper has resigned after FOX 17 News found he made 13 DUI arrests in cases where drivers later tested negative for both drugs and alcohol, according to an investigation reported by Kelly Avellino.
Avellino reported that former Bedford County THP Trooper Asa Pearl made those arrests between 2020 and 2024, and that court records showed an additional 18 of his DUI arrests were dismissed after blood alcohol levels came back below the legal limit.
Altogether, Avellino reported, that is 31 DUI arrests tied to Pearl that were dropped.
The findings are now part of a larger FOX 17 investigation into so-called “sober DUI” arrests in Tennessee, where more than 2,500 such arrests have been counted since 2017 across law enforcement agencies statewide.
A Driver Says He Had Nothing In His System
Avellino opened the report with Tyrone Parks, one of 16 people who filed federal lawsuits against the Tennessee Highway Patrol after being arrested for DUI.
Parks was arrested in Marshall County in 2024, but tests later showed he had no alcohol or drugs in his system, according to Avellino. A judge dismissed all charges.
“I told that dude I didn’t have nothing in my system that night,” Parks said. “He just wanted to take me to jail.”
That statement is simple, but it captures the human cost behind the numbers. A dismissed DUI case may disappear from a court docket, but for the person arrested, it can mean jail, legal fees, embarrassment, missed work, family stress, and a public accusation that can follow them even after the case is dropped.
Avellino reported that Parks is not alone. FOX 17’s ongoing investigation has found thousands of DUI arrests across Tennessee where later testing did not confirm alcohol or drugs.
Former Trooper Says Pressure “Started At The Top”
Former THP Trooper Ashley Smith told Avellino she felt pressure to make DUI arrests, especially while working extra shifts funded by grant money, including Tennessee’s Sober Up program.
“It started at the top and it trickled down into the districts,” Smith said.
Avellino reported that a THP grant manual requires troopers working those overtime shifts to make at least two contacts or stops per hour.
Smith said those expectations could lead to minor traffic stops, such as pulling over a driver for something like a tag light violation. In the written version of Avellino’s report, Smith described those as low-level stops that can snowball into larger encounters.
That is where the concern becomes more complicated. Police do need to stop impaired drivers before they hurt someone, and DUI enforcement saves lives when done correctly. But when officers feel pushed to produce numbers, even through legal traffic stops, the risk is that judgment becomes tangled with performance pressure.
Smith said she once arrested a man for DUI who later tested negative for alcohol after feeling pressure from a sergeant who was also at the scene.
“You tell him no, you get in trouble, or you do what they tell you to and you take them to jail when they’re not DUI,” Smith said.
Emails And Audio Raise Quota Questions
Avellino reported that internal THP emails and leaked audio have raised questions about whether troopers faced a quota system, or at least heavy pressure to increase DUI arrests.
In one email, THP Captain Bruce McCarley wrote about Sober Up grant hours, saying the “hours to contact” number was not good and that there were “only two DUIs.”
“We can do better,” McCarley wrote, according to Avellino’s report.
Another email included a map tracking each trooper’s DUI arrest count in the district.
Avellino also reported that a former trooper sent FOX 17 an audio recording of THP Captain Patrick Turner urging troopers to make DUI arrests.
“It is implied on midnight shift that a midnight trooper is a DUI hunter,” Turner said in the recording.
The captain also said troopers should ideally be around “98, 100 plus” DUI arrests per year, according to Avellino’s report.
“Get back out there and arrest every DUI you can get your hands on,” Turner said in the recording.
In the written version of the report, Avellino noted that Turner also said troopers should operate within policy and make “legitimate DUIs,” not manufacture arrests or stop people without legal violations. That caveat matters, but it does not erase the broader concern raised by former troopers: when leaders talk heavily about numbers, officers on the road may hear the message differently.
Federal Grant Money And Enforcement Numbers
Avellino reported that law enforcement agencies across Tennessee received $33.5 million in federal grant funds for traffic safety in 2026.
THP and other departments must show they are using those funds, but Avellino asked whether that accountability has created inappropriate pressure on troopers to make stops and arrests.
Smith said grant money can be lost or moved out of a district if DUI enforcement numbers are not strong enough.
That is a serious claim because grant-funded enforcement can be useful when aimed at real public safety goals, but it can also create incentives that deserve scrutiny. If the system rewards activity more than accuracy, the public has a right to ask whether innocent drivers are being swept into arrests that later fall apart.
The issue is not whether impaired driving is dangerous. It clearly is. The issue is whether enforcement systems are measuring the right thing.
A DUI arrest should not be treated as a success by itself if testing later shows the person had no alcohol or drugs in their system.
Thirty-One Dropped Cases, No Mention In HR File
Avellino reported that Asa Pearl’s personnel file, obtained through a records request, did not mention the dismissed DUI cases.
The file indicated that Pearl resigned from the department.
FOX 17 reached out to THP and Pearl about the dismissed cases and whether any action had been taken, but Avellino reported that the station did not receive responses.
That absence of documentation raises another important question. If a trooper has a pattern of DUI arrests that later test negative or fall below the legal limit, should that trigger an internal review?
Law enforcement officers make judgment calls in difficult situations, and not every dismissed case means misconduct. But 31 dropped DUI arrests tied to one trooper is enough to justify hard questions about training, supervision, field testing, and review.
For the public, the concern is simple: if a driver can be arrested, jailed, and charged despite later testing negative, there needs to be a clear way to detect patterns and fix them.
THP Denies DUI Quotas
THP Colonel Matthew Perry denied that the agency uses DUI quotas when he testified before state lawmakers earlier this year, according to Avellino.
“We don’t have a quota on DUIs,” Perry said. “We want to arrest every impaired driver.”
Perry also said no trooper wants to arrest someone who has not committed a crime, and that the goal is safety.
That is the official position, and it is an important one. A formal quota would be illegal, and THP says it does not have one.
But Avellino’s report focuses on whether there is a difference between an explicit quota and a culture of pressure. Emails about low DUI numbers, maps tracking arrest totals, and audio urging troopers to find “the freaking drunks” can still shape behavior even without a written quota.
This is where the debate will likely continue. THP may say the message was about removing impaired drivers from the road. Critics may say the message became too focused on producing arrests.
Cold Medicine, Drug Testing, And New Breathalyzers
Avellino reported that lawmakers also asked whether Tennessee’s blood tests screen for cold medicine or other common drugs that could affect driving.
Perry said he did not know of over-the-counter cold medicines, allergy medicines, or sleep aids being tested for, though he said he could be wrong.
FOX 17 later located the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s list of tested substances, and Avellino reported that seven substances listed are found in drugstore medications like NyQuil, Benadryl, and Robitussin.
The TBI has previously said a negative toxicology test does not always prove a driver was sober, because toxicology is more complex than alcohol testing and some substances may not be detected. But when asked which specific substances are not screened, the agency did not specify, according to the written report.
Changes are now being made. Avellino reported that a new Tennessee law took effect in 2026 requiring all law enforcement agencies to publicly report their number of sober DUI arrests each year.
FOX 17 also confirmed that THP is equipping all troopers with portable breathalyzers, giving officers real-time information about whether a driver has likely been drinking.
That seems like a practical step. A roadside breathalyzer will not answer every drug impairment question, but it can quickly help separate suspected alcohol cases from cases where alcohol is not present.
A Public Trust Problem
Avellino said FOX 17 reached out to THP at least twice for a response or interview about the issues raised in the report, but the agency did not respond.
She also noted that THP had described former troopers who spoke out as disgruntled employees during testimony before lawmakers.
Viewers, Avellino said, could listen to the recordings and decide whom they believe.
The larger issue is public trust. Tennessee has a clear interest in stopping impaired drivers, but drivers also have a right not to be arrested for DUI when evidence later shows no alcohol or drugs were present.
Both things can be true.
A strong DUI enforcement system should remove dangerous drivers from the road while also protecting innocent people from wrongful arrest. When thousands of sober DUI arrests show up in the data, and one resigned trooper is tied to 31 dismissed cases, the system deserves a closer look.
Avellino’s reporting does not prove a formal quota existed, but it does show enough emails, audio, lawsuits, dismissed cases, and former trooper accounts to raise a serious question: were troopers being pushed so hard to make DUI arrests that some innocent drivers got caught in the machinery?
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
