Woman sentenced for DUI, other charges after Maury County family’s car rammed

MAURY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Maury County family said they were traumatized after a driver repeatedly rammed their car in 2023. On Friday, the driver involved in that random attack was sentenced, according to prosecutors.

According to 22nd Judicial District Attorney General Brent Cooper, the incident took place on Aug. 26, 2023, while Shana Capps was driving with her 4-year-old and 6-year-old daughters.

Capps told News 2 she was scared for her life and for her girls’ lives: “It was absolutely terrifying. I mean, I honestly did not think that we were going to make it. I thought it was the end for us.”

Capps said a driver followed her towards Santa Fe and started slamming into the back of her vehicle multiple times.

“I really just thought, like, ‘We’re either going to be ran off the road and this vehicle is going to kill us, or the vehicle is going to stop and they’re going to kill us when they get out of the car,'” Capps recalled.

Officials said Kristy Spears Fields was behind the wheel of the other car. Fields reportedly chased Capps’ family off the Natchez Trace Highway, so in order to escape, Capps eventually pulled into a stranger’s driveway.Cooper said a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper arrived at the scene, where Fields continued speaking to Capps and her daughters, even though they had never met before.

“She thought someone was coming after her and was going to hurt her and her children. She didn’t know why. She didn’t know what was going on,” Assistant DA Victoria Haywood explained. “Ms. Capps and Ms. Fields did not know each other, had no interaction with each other prior to that.”

In the body camera footage, Fields said the night started with a bad date, the guy left, and Capps’ car looked similar to his. According to Cooper, Fields told the state trooper at the scene that she thought Capps and her children were chasing her.

Officials said Fields, a social worker and therapist, was sentenced on Friday, Feb. 20 for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, driving under the influence (first), and DUI per se. She received diversion — meaning she can have her record expunged when she successfully completes probation — on a three‑year sentence for aggravated assault and a one‑year sentence for reckless endangerment. Fields also received an 11‑month, 29‑day DUI sentence suspended after 48 hours in jail, with the rest on probation, but numerous conditions were added to that probation.

“During the sentencing hearing, where the judge determines the sentence after hearing proof from both sides, Capps, her husband, and two of the daughters who were in the vehicle gave emotional victim impact statements,” Cooper said in a Facebook post Friday. “They described the terror of the chase, the helplessness of not knowing whether they would escape, and the lasting trauma that still affects their lives and sense of safety. They testified that the children continue to live with the psychological scars of that night, having learned at a very young age that danger can come from a complete stranger on an ordinary drive.”

While both Cooper and Haywood expressed how proud they were of the victims for their bravery, Capps said she’s still a bit stunned that Fields “got off as easy as she did.”

Fields is a therapist at Centerstone, a mental health facility. In a statement, Centerstone said, in part, “We are aware of her recent convictions and are addressing the matter in accordance with company policy.”