Early Morning Crash Leads to Arrest of Claiborne County Detective

From WRIL The Big One -

James Otis Venable - CCJ

Early Saturday morning March 21, 2026, in the 9:00 hour, the Tennessee Highway Patrol responded to a call of a crash at the intersection of Highway 25E and Highway 63 finding a white pickup truck that had rear-ended an SUV.

The driver of the pickup truck was identified as 35-year-old James Otis Venable of Tazewell, Tn., a detective with the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department.

Trooper Roberts stated in the preliminary traffic report that "a Kia was traveling south and was stopped in the inside lane of US Highway 25E at the intersection of State Highway 63. The Kia was awaiting for a properly functioning red light to change from red to green, to allow the southbound traffic to continue in motion." A 2021 Chevrolet Silverado, (driven by Venable) "also traveling south, failed to come to a complete stop, and rear-ended the Kia causing damage."

WRIL obtained the arrest report for James Venable.  Trooper Roberts with the Tennessee Highway Patrol states in his report that once on scene (at approximately 9:11am) contact was made with at fault driver identified as James Venable.   He states he spoke to Venable observing the smell of alcohol on him and that he was exhibiting behavior consistent with being intoxicated.  When asked if he had consumed any alcoholic beverages, Venable replied, "Yes, earlier in the night."

After standardized field sobriety tests were conducted with Venable performing “poorly” he was placed under arrest for driving under the influence.  

The Trooper states he conducted a search inside Venable's vehicle finding an opened 12-pack of an alcoholic beverage was found under the back seat with four cans missing and still cold and empties in the container. Also found was a loaded Glock 43 pistol within immediate reach of Venable.

Venable was then arrested and read the Tennessee Implied Consent Law and he agreed to it, but when at the Claiborne County Hospital, he refused to do the test.  A search warrant was then obtained for a blood draw of Mr. Venable.

He was arrested and booked into the Claiborne County Jail a short time before 10:45am charged with driving under the influence – 1^st offense, violation of implied consent law, violation of open container law, and possession of a firearm while intoxicated.  He was released at 2:45pm that same day.

James Venable has been with the sheriff’s department for about 15 years. We understand that he has been placed on leave from the department. The investigation is ongoing.