Alabama couple sues Tennessee agency, police after kids taken for months after traffic stop

by Anita Wadhwani, Alabama Reflector
March 10, 2025

This story originally appeared on Tennessee Lookout.

An Alabama couple has filed suit against the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services and Sevierville law enforcement alleging their two children were illegally taken for nine months after they were wrongly arrested during a traffic stop.

Nicholas and Elizabeth Frye were on a vacation at a Dollywood-area resort to celebrate their youngest child’s seventh birthday in February 2024 when they were pulled over after leaving a Walmart parking lot, according to the federal lawsuit.

They were charged with DUI, public intoxication, child abuse and neglect and aggravated child abuse and neglect while their children were held at the police station, according to the lawsuit, filed Feb. 25.  The children remained at the station until their grandmother made the trip from Alabama to collect them.

Both parents denied being intoxicated or impaired and claimed police lacked probable cause to pull the family over.

The charges were later dismissed by a local prosecutor and subsequently expunged, according to Aaron Kimsey, a Sevierville attorney representing the family. Kimsey declined to comment further on the lawsuit.

A call to Sevierville government offices seeking comment was referred to the Sevierville Police Department, which did not respond to a request seeking arrest records. A spokesperson for the Department of Children’s Services on Friday declined to comment on pending litigation. Both the city and the police department are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that police drew Nicholas Frye’s blood but failed to immediately test it. When they did, there was no evidence he had been intoxicated, it said.

“The ultimate blood test results for Nicholas Frye show the absence of drugs and alcohol in their system at the time of the arrest,” the lawsuit said.

“Both the Frye parents and the Frye minor children have suffered irreparable, permanent and significant mental and emotional anguish,” the lawsuit said.  The couple have “suffered deleterious effects to their reputations, their standing in their community, their occupations, income and other major facets of their lives.”

The couple are seeking $15 million in damages for violation of their constitutional rights and $10 million in damages for state law violations.

The lawsuit echoes similar claims made against the Department of Children’s Services and state and county law enforcement following a 2023 traffic stop that led to five young children being placed in foster care for nearly two months.

Bianca Clayborne filed suit last year alleging the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Department of Children’s Services, Coffee County Sheriff’s Office and its employees wrongly took the children into state custody.

Clayborne’s partner was arrested for possession of fewer than five grams of marijuana, a misdemeanor in Tennessee typically resulting in a citation, not arrest. Clayborne was cited and told she was free to leave with her children.

Hours later, the children were later taken from Clayborne’s side as she waited to bail her partner out of jail. The incident raised questions about whether the couple’s race — Clayborne, her partner and children are Black — made them a target of unequal treatment while driving through rural Tennessee and drew condemnation from the Tennessee NAACP and Democratic lawmakers. Clayborne’s federal lawsuit alleging social workers and law enforcement officers  “illegally tore apart and terrorized Clayborne’s family” remains ongoing.

DCS, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Coffee County denied wrongdoing in the Clayborne lawsuit.

The agencies named in the Frye suit have not yet filed a legal response.

It’s unclear where the two Frye children, identified only by their initials in legal filings, remained during the nine months they were out of their parents’ custody. The lawsuit contains no reference to the family’s race.

Court records note that once the parents were arrested, Sevierville police contacted DCS.

A DCS official, in turn, contacted the Alabama Department of Human Services, which ultimately took custody of the children until they were reunited with their parents.

The lawsuit, which does not name Alabama child welfare officials as defendants, alleged they nevertheless “exacerbated the constitutional violation….by precluding the Frye parents from seeing the Frye children.”

Frye v Sevierville lawsuit

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

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