A sober man was arrested for a DUI in Arizona even though he had 0.000 blood-alcohol content, it was reported by ABC News 15 in Arizona.
Jessie Thornton, 64, of Surprise, Ariz., was pulled over by police said that the cops told him that he was drunk just by looking at him.
"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,"
When other police arrived, Thornton blew a 0.000. The police said he needed to be evaluated for drug use.
"Yes, I do the breathalyzer and it comes back zero, zero, zero," Mr. Thornton added
Thornton said that he was placed in handcuffs and was told to sit on the curb. The police did not appear to notice that the 64 year old had hip and knee problems.
“I couldn’t even sit on the ground like that and they knew it and I was like laying on the ground, then they put me in the back of an SUV and when I asked the officer to move her seat up ’cause my hip hurt she told me to stop whining,” said Thornton.
Mr. Thornton then told ABC news that “I then get this message that my license is being suspended and I have to take some sort of drinking class or something.”
Police then informed him that his car was impounded and a DUI charge was filed against him.
Thornton told the station that a late-night swim at LA Fitness might have the reason why he was arrested.
However, he believes the DUI arrest and the ten other times he has been stopped were motivated by racial profiling.
"It was driving while black,” he said, adding: “I just don’t want any of this to happen to somebody else," he said.