A lawyer from a prominent Atlanta law firm was arrested following an incident in which another woman accused her of hitting her car with coffee mug at a Buckhead intersection.
Greenberg Traurig litigator Victoria Davis Lockard, 42, was arrested July 1 at her Buckhead home after the woman told police her car window was shattered by the mug.
According to a police report, the July 1 incident appeared to be a road rage situation that escalated.
Maura Gerke, 21, said she was leaving her job at the Terminus building in Buckhead when she honked her horn at a white Jaguar that she believed was not turning fast enough, according to a police report.
The Jaguar driver then trailed her 1997 Ford down Piedmont Road to Roswell Road.
“She stated that the female driving the Jaguar then pulled up beside her and began honking at her near the intersection of Piedmont-Roswell,” Officer Stoddard wrote in his report. “Maura Gerke told me that she flicked off the driver… (who) then threw an object at her which struck her window shattering it. Maura Gerke began to cry and shake as she told me what happened.”
Gerke had shards of glass that appeared to be from the mug and a tag number of the 2011 Jaguar, which belonged to Lockard. She later rode with an officer to identify Lockard, who was questioned by police at her home.
Lockard was arrested and charged with aggressive driving and criminal trespass, according to jail records.
Lockard hired criminal defense lawyer Manny Arora the day after her arrest.
“While it may seem minor, it is a major issue for a lawyer to have any type of arrest, so we take it very, very seriously,” Arora told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “The police report is somewhat one-sided but at least the plaintiff acknowledges that she initiated the honking and there was honking back and forth and there was a lewd gesture.”
Arora said he plans to get video footage from surveillance cameras in the area and canvas the cops who may have been directing traffic in the area for more information.
Attempts to reach Gerke and Lockard for comments were unsuccessful. Arora declined to say whether Lockard made a statement to police.
“If I got into trouble for every time I yelled at somebody in traffic, I would be in a world of hurt,” he said. “I honk at everybody and I have been known to make a gesture or two.”
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