A Villages couple has hired a local legal eagle to defend their daughter after a bathing suit drunk driving arrest earlier this year at a restaurant.
Meridith Manning, 46, is being represented by attorney J. Scott Herman, who has become well-known in The Villages after representing a line dancer who was accused of punching another woman at the square, an 85-year-old Villager who offered a woman $20 to allow him to fondle her breasts at a Publix, and a Village of Hillsborough man arrested in a seat-saving incident involving a 72-year-old woman at Spanish Springs Town Square.
Manning, who lives with her parents at 102 Costa Mesa Drive in the Village of La Zamora, was arrested wearing only a one-piece blue bathing suit at Carrabba’s Italian Grill at Rolling Acres Plaza. Her eyes were watery and bloodshot and she had “the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating” from her, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
Police asked the New York native to participate in field sobriety exercises, but she said she would only do so if her lawyer was present. Manning then asked if she could call her mother or “resolve this in another way.”
Manning refused to provide a breath sample without a lawyer present. She again asked police to call her mother. An empty bottle of Hydrocodone was found in the center console of her SUV.
It appears Manning and her attorney won’t be going down without a fight and court files indicate Scott is prepared to take the case before a jury. He has requested a copy of the dash cam video from that day from the Lady Lake Police Department.
Manning has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Manning had been ticketed on a charge of careless driving after an accident at 5:04 a.m. Aug. 9 on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 near Griffin View Drive. She had been attempting a U-turn into right-of-way traffic when the crash occurred.
