Lee County Commissioner John Manning arrested for DUI in Cape Coral following crash

Lee County Commissioner John Edward Manning was arrested in Cape Coral for one charge of driving under the influence and two charges of DUI property damage Tuesday evening.

According to the arrest report filed by Cape Coral police:

Manning, driving a silver Nissan Murano, ran a red light at the intersection of Cape Coral Parkway and Pelican Boulevard, around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, hitting another vehicle and then crashing into a light pole in a parking lot.

When Manning exited the vehicle he was unsteady on his feet and told the officer "I had one glass of wine, usually I have three, but I had one."

He said he had been coming from SE 47th Terrace where he had dinner and the glass of wine.

When asked what happened by the officer, Manning said he had no idea how the crash occurred. 

Manning failed several sobriety tests including "walk-and-turn," "one-leg-stand," "numeric recitation," and "finger-to-nose evaluation."

During the walk-and-turn, the CCPD report said Manning had a difficult time getting into the starting position, lost his balance and fell off the line completely and during the numeric recitation, he failed to accurately count backward from 87 to 68, missing most of the 70s and repeating numbers.

During the one-leg-stand, the report said Manning swayed, put his foot down and used his arms for balance. He also stumbled backward and to his left and lost balance.

Finally, during the finger to nose evaluation he used the wrong hand, didn't touch the tip of his nose, and missed several touches.

After the testing Manning was placed under arrest for DUI. The officer taking Manning to the jail said he smelled a strong odor of alcohol in the patrol car. 

Manning told him he might have had a second glass of wine but didn't finish it. He mentioned it was white wine called Hass.

Manning agreed to a breathalyzer test where the results showed a 0.105. In Florida, 0.08 is considered legally drunk.

The commissioner also told an officer during the 20-minute observation period that his left ear was hurting and he was having a hard time hearing out of it from when the side airbag deployed as a result of the crash.

A report by the Lee County Sheriff's Office said Manning was booked into the Lee County Jail at 1:56 a.m.

According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office website, he was released on $5,000 bond at 7:30 a.m. and will be arraigned Oct. 9 in a Lee County court.

Manning, 67, declined to make a statement when he returned to his Cape Coral home shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, saying only: "I'm going through the legal process and can't comment."  

Manning represents District One, which includes Cape Coral. He was re-elected last year without opposition.

A Board of Commissioners zoning meeting he was to chair Wednesday morning was chaired by Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass instead.

"It's very unfortunate, my prayers are with him and his familly and the victims of the car crash," Pendergrass said. "John's a great guy and I look forward to all of this being past us."

 "I'm glad no one got hurt," said Commissioner Brian Hamman. "He made a bad call last night.

Commissioner Frank Mann also commented, saying: "It's a sad situation and comes on the best day he has had as a public servant with the purchase of Edison farms and passing a budget with no public opposition."

Commissioner Larry Kiker said he would not discuss the arrest.

"I come to work to do the county's business and I'm not going to comment on somebody's personal issues,"  Kiker said. 

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