Johnny Damon, a former Major League Baseball star and two-time World Series champion, was arrested Friday in Windermere along with his wife, accused of resisting police during a traffic stop for suspected DUI, records show.
According to the arrest report, Damon was pulled over about 1:30 a.m. by a Windermere Police Department officer who saw his black Lincoln SUV swerving on Conroy Windermere Road, before striking a curb and driving past a stop sign at Chase Road and Main Street.
Damon’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and his voice was horse and “extremely slurred,” the officer reported. He was unsteady on his feet. When asked how much he had to drink, Damon said “just a little bit.”
However, his is blood-alcohol level was later measured between .294 and .300, the report said — nearly four times the state’s legal limit for driving.
After pulling Damon over, the officer ordered him to stand in front of his police car and his wife, Michelle Mangan-Damon, to stay inside of their car while he waited for a second officer to arrive. According to the arrest report, Mangan-Damon got out of the car anyway and said she didn’t need to listen to the officer.
She continued to ignore the officer’s command, the report said, so he grabbed her wrist and tried to push her against the car. Damon stepped in between his wife and the officer, and a fight to secure them both in handcuffs ensued, the report said.
According to the report, the scuffle happened outside of the view of nearby security cameras, and the officer’s body-worn camera was knocked from his vest. A second officer arrived and the couple were handcuffed and separated.
“I’m a good f—ing guy,” Damon reportedly told the officer.
The two-time MLB All-Star said he and his wife were driving from “London House,” which he described as “a guy who had a lot of money, to uh, I don’t know, take care of taxes,” according to the report.
“We’re just having a good time there,” he said.
When asked to perform a sobriety test, Damon said he would because he is “a big boy,” and he was released from the handcuffs, the officer said.
During the first test, which required him to follow a red LED light with his eyes without moving his head, Damon kept turning his head despite repeated instruction not to, the arrest report said.
The officer then instructed Damon to take nine heel-to-toe steps with his arms down against his sides, back and forth along a white line. Damon took three steps, stumbled, apologized, then held out his arms for balance as he took the remaining six steps and an additional two, the report said.
The third test required Damon to lift his foot six inches in the air and hold that position, while counting with “one thousand” between each digit. Instead, Damon reportedly lifted his right foot, counted quickly to 10, then did the same with his left foot before putting it down and looking at the officer.
When he attempted the exercise again, Damon began “jumping around” before putting his foot down and complaining that the exercise was “tough,” the report said.
Damon counted down from 60 to zero with his eye closed for the final sobriety test and was handcuffed as he counted. He and his wife were taken to the Orange County DUI Testing Center, where Damon agreed to a breath test “despite his wife telling him not to,” according to the report.
Damon was given a warning for failing to maintain in a single lane and cited for running a stop sign and driving under the influence of alcohol. He was also charged with resisting an officer without violence.
His wife was arrested on charges of battery on an officer and resisting with violence.
Staff writer Jeff Weiner contributed.
hphillips@orlandosentinel.com