A car blew through a stop sign, clipped a culvert, narrowly missed a tree, and flipped onto its side just a few feet from a Dickson County family's living room on Tuesday night — while the family was inside after dinner. Deputies say the driver, 45-year-old Bobby Simmons, was drunk behind the wheel and had multiple prior DUI convictions out of Mississippi.
According to WKRN News 2, investigators say Simmons drove through a stop sign at high speed before his car struck a culvert, missed a tree, and came to rest on its side next to the home. The crash damaged a fence, part of a deck, and bricks on the chimney. Homeowner David Furr said his family was in the living room after dinner, just a few feet from where the car landed.
Furr told the station the driver seemed incoherent at the scene. Simmons, per Furr, claimed someone had probably cut his brake line — a claim he repeated to both Furr and investigators even as he also insisted, according to the same account, that his brakes failed only after he applied them. Simmons said he hit the brakes 30 to 50 yards before reaching the crash site and was going no more than 35 miles per hour at the time.
Driver Tried to Grab Belongings as Deputies Arrived
Dickson County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived to find Simmons attempting to retrieve belongings from the wrecked vehicle as they approached. He showed deputies his hand and claimed a minor injury that didn't require medical treatment. Furr said steps outside his home may have kept the car from crashing straight into the living room where his family was sitting.
Law enforcement said Simmons smelled of alcohol and was unsteady on his feet at the scene. He refused a field sobriety test, so deputies obtained a warrant to draw his blood at the Dickson County jail.
Mississippi Priors Could Trigger Mandatory Jail Time
Simmons was charged with his third DUI, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and violation of implied consent, and his bond was set at $12,000. He had prior DUI convictions in Mississippi.
High-speed or erratic vehicle driving can amount to reckless endangerment in Tennessee, according to Mumford Law. Simmons also faces a reckless-driving charge.
Simmons declined a requested jailhouse interview with WKRN. Furr told the station he was thankful that neither Simmons nor his own family was seriously hurt in the crash.
A Pattern Playing Out Across Tennessee
The crash lands amid a broader statewide reckoning with impaired driving. Tennessee saw 7,028 crashes involving a DUI driver between April 2024 and March 2025, according to the Blount County Sheriff's Office, even as overall traffic fatalities statewide dropped 14 percent in 2025 to 1,045 deaths. Dickson County itself ranked 17th out of 95 Tennessee counties for overall crash rate per licensed driver between 2020 and 2024, according to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security's TITAN Business Unit.
Nationally, alcohol-impaired crashes accounted for roughly 30 percent of all traffic deaths in 2024, per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Dickson County case follows other recent Tennessee incidents involving impaired driving allegations, including a Chattanooga mom charged after an SUV went off a cliff with similar chemical test refusal and reckless endangerment allegations.
