Fort Collins, Colorado, taxpayers are on the hook for a $500,000 settlement after police arrested a sober Good Samaritan for DUI.
The case involves Jesse Cunningham, a Nebraska resident who stopped to assist at a serious motorcycle crash in 2022.
According to CBS Colorado, Cunningham repeatedly asked officers to administer a roadside breath test, believing it would prove he hadn't been drinking.
Instead, he was arrested and forced to undergo blood testing. Results later came back negative for both alcohol and impairing drugs.
Prosecutors dismissed the DUI charge roughly three months later, but litigation took years to settle.
The federal civil rights lawsuit alleged that officers lacked probable cause for the arrest.
This case renews debate over roadside testing and probable cause in DUI arrests.
Had officers administered a preliminary breath test at the scene, they would have known alcohol wasn't involved.
While a zero reading doesn't rule out drug impairment, it can narrow the investigation and prevent unnecessary arrests.
Similar cases have emerged in Colorado and Tennessee, where sober drivers were arrested despite later testing negative.
Tennessee recently began issuing breath test devices due to a high number of sober DUI arrests.
