- Hundreds of Georgia DUI suspects later tested completely clean.
- Some drivers were arrested despite blowing a 0.00 breath test.
- Critics say field sobriety tests are failing drug impairment cases.
Police have a tough job to do, but like all of us, they sometimes make it harder on themselves. That seems to be one of the main takeaways after a new report exposed officers in Georgia. At least 701 individuals in the state ended up under arrest for DUI despite being sober. These folks didn’t just have zero alcohol in their systems either. They also tested negative for drugs, but went to jail anyway.
That information comes from public records obtained by Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta. Digging into the data and bodycam footage provides an even bleaker picture. These were not borderline cases.
Georgia DUI Data Breakdown
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), more than 10 percent of the 6,875 blood samples it tested in 2025 came back with no alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs detected. That’s right, more than one in ten arrests for DUI where a blood test was completed came back showing zero intoxication.
Read: Sober DUI Arrests In Tennessee Raise New Questions After Internal Emails Surface
That comparison matters. In Tennessee, where we recently looked at questionable DUI arrests, many departments still do not equip patrol cars with portable breathalyzers. Officers are often left relying almost entirely on field sobriety tests and their own observations at the roadside. Georgia’s situation is harder to explain away.
Roadside Judgment Calls
One of the drivers highlighted in the report, 65-year-old Smyrna resident Lenny Daniel, blew a 0.00 after a traffic stop. Kennesaw police arrested him anyway, claiming a field sobriety test suggested he was impaired by drugs. Daniel spent the night in jail before later blood work showed there were no drugs or alcohol in his system.
Nineteen-year-old college student McClain Fineran went through something similar. After a minor parking lot crash, Rome police arrested him for suspected marijuana impairment despite a 0.00 breath test. He had called police himself after backing into a parked car, which we all know is exactly the kind of thing drunk people do. His blood test also came back clean.
Former Roswell officer and DUI instructor Joshua Ott says field sobriety tests produce extremely high false-positive rates when officers try to use them to spot drugs instead of alcohol. A 2023 University of California, San Diego study found officers incorrectly identified 49 percent of sober participants in a placebo group as impaired after conducting those tests.
In other words, a coin flip may have been nearly as accurate. Be careful if you plan on driving in Georgia or Tennessee anytime soon, folks.
