Charges against Bishop McManus Dismissed

By A.j. Algier
Westerly Sun
June 5, 2013

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/news/charges-against-bishop-mcmanus-dismissed/article_b32021c2-cde1-11e2-b97d-0019bb2963f4.html

Bishop Robert McManus of the Worcester Roman Catholic diocese is shown with his attorney, William Murphy.

WAKEFIELD — Charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident brought against a Roman Catholic bishop were dismissed Tuesday by Narragansett police in 4th Division District Court.

Dismissal of the two misdemeanor charges comes after Robert J. McManus, 61, bishop of the diocese of Worcester, Mass., pleaded guilty in Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal last month to a charge of failure to submit to a test to determine the level of intoxication after his arrest on May 7.

Traffic tribunal Judge William T. Noonan sentenced McManus to a six-month loss of license; ordered him to pay $935 and complete 10 hours of ommunity service — all standard for first-time offenders.

Having pleaded to the RITT charges, his lawyer, William J. Murphy, was successful in having the district court charges dismissed.

McManus was arrested at his summer home at 215 Col. John Gardner Road in Bonnet Shores on May 4 after the victim of a hit-and-run crash, John Smith, of Narragansett, followed him to that address and called 911. Smith said McManus hit his vehicle in the area of Boston Neck and Bridgetown roads and did not stop.

McManus, according to police reports, said he had two drinks with dinner, one was a Manhattan and the other a glass of wine. In a statement released by the diocese at the time he said he had “made a terrible error in judgment.”