Drink and drugs before driving led Manning to continue on three tires

Matthew Manning

Matthew Manning

GUILDERLAND — A Utica man who last summer drove erratically on Interstate 90 in Guilderland was sentenced on Wednesday morning to one to three years in state prison.

Mathew Manning, 55, was also ordered to one year of license revocation, subject to determinations of the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, and he must also attend a victim-impact panel and complete and impaired-driver program. He was sentenced by Judge Peter A. Lynch in Albany County Court.

On April 26, 2017 Manning had pleaded guilty to one count of driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of alcohol and drugs, a felony.

The Albany County District Attorney’s Office described, in a press release, how events unfolded on the day of Manning’s arrest: On Aug. 14, 2016, at about 8 p.m., Manning was driving erratically in his white Chevrolet, swerving far to the left and striking the guardrail in the center median on I-90. When his Chevy struck the guardrail, the front driver-side tire came off of the car.

Despite this, Manning continued to drive across three lanes of traffic, coming to a stop against the right shoulder of the highway. New York State Police responded to the scene and observed Manning speaking with severely slurred speech. He failed multiple field sobriety tests, and admitted to taking Alprazolam, Amphetamine, and Methamphetamine before driving.

Assistant District Attorney David Szalda of the Vehicular Crimes Unit prosecuted this case.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer

 

More Guilderland News

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  • Jesse Fraine, the town’s engineer, went over the schedule and answered questions from board members. The idea, he said, was not to increase rates for low users while moving away from the antiquated unit-based system, which is now rarely used.

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