Sober Man Gets DUI For ‘Looking Drunk’

A sober man got a DUI this week because he “looked drunk.”

According to the Daily Mail, 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.

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.”

Here’s a video about the sober man who got a DUI in Arizona.

The DUI charges were recently dropped against Thornton but he is still seeking damages from the incident.

His attorney Marc Victor said: “This is a case of D-W-B, driving while black … This is not the way American citizens ought to be treated by officers or treated by anybody for that matter.”