The executive vice president of The Danner Company and community leader Francis Guess is out of jail on bond Monday after being arrested on a driving under the influence charge Sunday night.
Metro police arrested Guess, 64, at an Exxon gas station at Brick Church Pike and Trinity Lane after witnesses told police he had fallen while exiting his vehicle. The arrest warrant also states Guess nearly hit a police car while driving to the gas pumps.
According to police, Guess admitted to having “a couple of Jack Daniels at the Legends” and while performing field sobriety tests stated he didn’t want to continue taking the tests because he felt he’d had “too much to drink tonight.”
Police charged Guess with driving under the influence and violating the state’s implied consent.
Guess is out of jail on $1,000 bail. He could not be immediately reached for comment Monday afternoon.
Guess has served on numerous boards, including serving as the board chairman of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
He served in Gov. Lamar Alexander’s cabinet as the commissioner of both the Department of Labor and the Department of General Services.
He is currently serving a two-year term on the state Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission.
President Ronald Reagan appointed Guess to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in the 1980s.
Guess was brutally beaten outside of his home in October 2007 when a robber attacked him with a lawnmower blade.
He returned a call seeking comment, saying, "I wouldn't comment on anything until after it's been adjudicated."
Guess said attorney C.K. McLemore would represent him at his Oct. 25 court date before Judge Dianne Turner.