On a summer afternoon in Franklin County, Tennessee, retired sheriff’s deputy Dean Binkley was just trying to get home from a doctor’s appointment. Instead, he ended up in handcuffs, accused of driving under the influence. Even though he hadn’t had a drop to drink. Instead, he actually had critically low blood sugar. In other words, he was in the middle of a diabetic crisis that made him slur his words and stumble, symptoms that looked a lot like intoxication to the trooper who arrested him under a DUI charge.

It happened on August 7, 2024, when Binkley merged onto the Highway 64 connector and quickly realized something was wrong

His blood sugar was crashing and he had nothing sweet on hand. That was the last thing he remembered. Another driver (who happened to be an out-of-state police officer) ended up calling 911 after seeing Binkley swerving on the road.

When Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Ryan Nichols arrived, the scene looked bad

Binkley was slow to respond, confused, and unsteady on his feet. He denied drinking but admitted to taking diabetes medication.

Despite the clues, Nichols arrested him for DUI without a field sobriety test, telling him, “You’re extremely DUI. You can’t stand up.”

Body cam footage paints a messier picture

Nichols repeatedly expressed uncertainty, at one point admitting that he didn’t know what to do.

Even as paramedics explained that low blood sugar can mimic drunkenness, Nichols speculated that Binkley might be under the influence of narcotics. He even suggested that if it was a medical issue, “he can prove all that in court.”

That’s exactly what Binkley had to do

The retired deputy had made dozens of DUI arrests himself. He was trained to recognize diabetic emergencies. Still, he was forced to wait seven months for his own toxicology results.

They showed zero substances in his system. The DUI charge was dismissed, but not before his mugshot spread online and his reputation took a hit.

Now, he’s suing Nichols in federal court.

Binkley’s DUI ordeal isn’t unique in Tennessee

The state has faced a growing number of lawsuits from sober drivers arrested on suspicion of DUI, only for toxicology tests to later clear them.

In August, MotorBiscuit reported on Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper James Zahn. From 2018 to 2025, the officer arrested an alarming number of completely sober drivers.

Critics say the “arrest first, verify later” mindset damages lives and undermines trust, especially in a state already under scrutiny for wrongful DUI arrests.

For Binkley, the experience has been humiliating…and ironic. A man who once enforced DUI laws was swept up by the same system during a medical crisis. His story is a cautionary tale about how quickly a medical emergency can be misread as a crime, and how costly that mistake can be.

Until policies catch up with medical realities, Tennessee drivers with conditions like diabetes may still face the risk of being treated like criminals while their bodies fight to keep them alive.