Jul. 3 2023, Published 7:30 p.m. ET
The past five months have been a living hell for the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Atlanta star Eva Marcille, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
Just weeks after Marcille slapped Michael Sterling with divorce papers, he was arraigned in April on a DUI charge in a rear-end crash that subsequently led to a civil lawsuit in June, according to various court documents.
Sterling, a 41-year-old attorney, was handcuffed for allegedly reeking of booze following a midnight crash on Feb. 4, 2022, in Sandy Springs, Georgia — where instead of calling a lawyer — he summoned his beautiful wife who showed up at the scene with a friend!
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“I told her that her husband was under arrest tonight,” the police officer stated in the police report. “I let her speak to him briefly.”
Sterling, through his lawyer William Treadwell, pled not guilty in Fulton County State Court on April 26 on the misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, following too closely, and reckless driving, according to documents.
Sterling has vigorously denied he was boozed up, claiming his eyes were “glossy and red” because of a medical condition. His lawyer also argued that none of the emergency room workers at the hospital where Sterling was taken following the crash accused him of being inebriated.
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But the crash report states: “Sterling was wearing (a Covid-19) mask, but as he spoke to me, I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath.”
Sterling also admitted to having his “last drink” about “four or five (o’clock)” that day before allegedly plowing his 2011 Ford Mustang muscle car into the back of the Toyota Camry driven by Cody Clark, 26.
Clark, who was injured along with passenger, Lauren Hammett, told police they just saw the “Mustang come on them so fast” that the impact spun the Toyota into a concrete median.
When police asked Sterling what happened, he replied, “he didn’t know.”
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“He said that he was going too fast to keep from hitting the other vehicle,” the report stated. “He said that the vehicle came over to his lane and he hit it.”
“I asked Sterling if he would submit to some voluntary field sobriety evaluations and he said no,” the officer stated in the report. “I asked him why not and he just replied, because ‘I am an attorney.’”
It is unknown why Sterling decided to call his wife before he was handcuffed, placed in the back of the patrol car, and hauled off to the city jail.
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A court clerk at Sandy Springs Municipal Court told RadarOnline.com the case was bounded over to Fulton County State Court upon Sterling’s request where he was subsequently charged.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Sterling’s model wife filed for divorce in March 2023 claiming their marriage is “irretrievably broken” and she is seeking custody of three minor children, plus child support.
Sterling has vowed to fight against the divorce because he plans to woo her back.
Sterling’s second mission will be fending off the lawsuit filed by Clark and Hammett who claim the embattled lawyer was “negligently, carelessly, and unlawfully operated said vehicle by driving under the influence, driving recklessly” triggering the crash that cause “mental and physical pain and suffering.”
Meanwhile, Sterling’s lawyer submitted a letter to prosecutors refuting the DUI charge.
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“There was no odor or smell of alcohol in the medical report,” the lawyer claimed. “Indeed, both nurses were subpoenaed for the administrative hearing in this case and were prepared to testify that if they smelled the odor of alcohol, it would have been included in their report.”
“They would have testified that the fact that they did not include it in the medical report means they did not detect the smell of alcohol. They never testified at the administrative hearing because the officer agreed to dismiss the case because he failed to properly advise Mr. Sterling of the implied consent rights.”