Former Korn drummer David Silveria tells TMZ ... he blew a 0.0 on the breathalyzer during his DUI arrest this week ... but says cops nailed him anyway over a sleeping pill he took the night before.
TMZ broke the story ... Silveria was popped in Huntington Beach, CA on Sunday at 10:45 AM.
Silveria is adamant he hadn't been boozing ... telling us he suffers from insomnia and took a sleeping pill Saturday night to help him rest. When he woke up Sunday morning, David says he didn't realize he was still too tired to drive ... and accidentally rear-ended another car on the way to breakfast.
Cops arrived to the scene and put David through a standard DUI test ... but Silveria tells us they didn't detect a drop of alcohol in his system.
Silveria says he told the cops about the sleeping pill ... and that's when they made the decision to arrest him for DUI.
Silveria -- who is now a member of the band INFINIKA -- says he plans to take responsibility for his actions ... telling us, "It was an honest mistake."