by Eric Ginsburg
Former Greensboro city councilman and current Downtown Greensboro Inc. President Zack Matheny was arrested and charged with a DWI in the early morning hours today.
Matheny said this afternoon in a phone interview that he had been drinking at a friend’s house, sitting on the back porch and talking before he got in his car.
“I had pulled myself over,” Matheny said. “I realized I was not in a position to drive. I realized it and pulled off to the side of the road and had pulled into an unoccupied commercial property.”
Matheny said he was parked and “prepared to just hold tight for a little bit” or contact his wife or Uber when an officer who was doing his job stopped and asked him what was going on.
Matheny is remorseful, he said, and repeatedly stated that he made a mistake and that he takes responsibility for his lapse in judgment.
“I will certainly learn from it and I hope others do as well,” he said. “I did not make the right decision, regardless of the outcome of what happens in court or anything I may go through. I own it.
“This hurts,” he continued. “It hurts me. It hurts my family.” He added that he hopes it doesn’t detract from the “positive trajectory” of Downtown Greensboro Inc.
Matheny said he had previously received a DWI, 22 years ago when he was still a college student.
The police report on the city’s P2C website lists the incident this morning as happening at the intersection of North Church Street and East Cone Boulevard. The report also lists a time of 5:21 a.m., but Matheny said that reflects the time once the police finished booking him and not the time of the incident. He didn’t directly answer what his blood-alcohol content level had been other than to say it was above the legal limit.
Matheny said he had attended a couple of events Thursday night, had gone to dinner and then to a friend’s private residence “and obviously had more than I should have to occupy a vehicle.”
“DWIs are written every night, not all of them are newsworthy. Mine is,” he said. “And I hope others will learn from it, and I certainly will. I know I made a mistake.”
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Lets do a story on how many people are killed by drunks who think they can drive. How many sons and daughters, husband, wives, mothers, dads will not come home because someone decided to drink. He seems to be taking the blame, No Sh*t he did it and it on body cameras, he cant deny it so he has to accept it, Wow. I heard he got calls and emails of support, some on council have plenty of close family that got popped for DWI, hell one council member got popped not long ago, so of course they feel for him. I feel sorry for victims, not the drunk.