This story was originally published by the Nashville Banner. Sign up for their newsletter at nashvillebanner.com/newsletters.
On Wednesday, three individual plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the troopers who falsely arrested them for driving under the influence on the highways surrounding Nashville during the summer of 2025.
In the complaint, each plaintiff offered a detailed account of their interactions with THP, their arrest and its aftermath.
The first plaintiff, Charles Engle, is a 70-year-old retired truck driver. He lives on a farm about 90 minutes west of Nashville. He has type 2 diabetes and macular degeneration in his left eye, which led to his retirement from trucking.
Per the complaint, on the nearly 100-degree morning of July 22, 2025, Engle was driving his personal truck, pulling a trailer with his tractor and mower. He mows and bales hay in local fields to feed the more than 100 animals on his farm and to sell for extra income. Engle hit a repaved section of Highway 641, the truck crossed to the opposite side of the highway and the trailer jackknifed and ended up in a ditch.