By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, June 15, 2015
Former Fox 5 anchor Amanda Davis, as my colleague Tyler Estep reported this morning, was arrested earlier today for driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane.
Davis was set to debut as part of the CBS46's new "Just a Minute" commentary team at 5:56 p.m. today.
But CBS46 released a statement at 10:49 a.m.:
For personal reasons Amanda Davis has requested leave from the Just a Minute Project. We at CBS46 respect her decision.
The commentaries are pre-taped so the station will sub her commentary out. CBS46 has a set of 10 mostly former Atlanta journalists doing one-minute commentaries, including Sally Sears, Ken Watts and Kimberley Kennedy. Cynthia Tinsley, formerly of 11 Alive, will be heard first tonight instead.
Based on a poll I posted when I first wrote about "Just a Minute" on June 4, Davis was by far the most highly anticipated contributor with nearly half of those who took the poll looking forward to seeing her the most.
CBS46 general manager Mark Pimentel, the day "Just a Minute" was announced earlier this month, said contributors are compensated but acknowledged it wasn't a lot.
Davis retired from Fox 5 after 26 years in 2013 and several months after being arrested for DUI while driving in the wrong lane and hitting another vehicle. In 2014, she was cleared of all charges and assigned 20 hours of community service. She has not been able to get another full-time job in Atlanta TV. Presumably, the "Just a Minute" part-time gig was a way to get back in the spotlight.
She talked to Maria Boynton of V-103 last week. "I thought I was done. Got a call from CBS46 and I'm back," she told Boynton. She was going to talk about Caitlyn Jenner and how so many others don't have his resources.
She also addressed the reaction to her 2012 DUI for the first time in public:
"It was awful," she said. "People don't think about you as a person. They were hateful. They were mean." She said she couldn't address the case because of the legal case. She said the night of the accident she had a single drink but didn't think that was the problem. She blamed her driving the wrong way down a one-way street less on drinking and more on "distracted" driving. She refused to take a sobriety test because she was afraid, she told Boynton.
Davis admitted she was depressed and isolated for a period of time after that.
She did not acknowledge any drinking problems to Boynton although to be fair, Boynton never asked that question directly.
Estep got a hold of the police report in the afternoon of the latest DUI arrest. The details were sparse.
About the Author
