Around 3:30 a.m. yesterday, an Escambia County sheriff’s deputy observed a Lamborghini speeding in a 35 mph zone in Pensacola, Florida. During the stop, the deputy formed the opinion he had probable cause the driver was intoxicated and arrested him. David J. Maloney, 49, was charged with driving under the influence and taken to the Escambia County Jail. He was released on a $500 bond at 9:40 a.m. the same day.
Maloney is a well-known attorney with Maloney Frost LLP, a firm with offices in Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi. Maloney is a personal injury attorney and one area of his practice is representing those who have been injured by drunk drivers. And he runs a lot of ads to that effect.
On the firm’s website, there is a short video of Maloney speaking about drunk driving. In it, the attorney says: Believe it or not, I still sometimes get calls from people who think they can convince me or pay me enough to represent them in a drunk driving context. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you drink and you drive and you hurt someone, don’t call me. I’m not going to represent you. I’m not going to help you. If anything I’m going to be the lawyer going after you.
In addition to the video on the Maloney Frost website, Maloney is well known in the Gulf Coast region through television ads he runs where he speaks out about the evils of drunk driving, calling getting behind the wheel and putting the lives of everyone else on the road at risk “irresponsible.”
Not surprisingly, some people were quick to leave comments on the Maloney’s professional Facebook page. One commenter wrote he despises people who drink and drive, especially attorneys who put on TV shows about people who they are like but claim to despise. Maloney advertises he will personally return calls and one commenter wonders if he returned his own call from jail. Others simply thought it was funny and still others predicted his career is over, at least in the Gulf region.
Some commenters said he is innocent until proven guilty, overlooking the hypocrisy that so are others Maloney brags about never defending.
As to what will happen next, the New York Daily News perhaps put it best. Hopefully he can find an attorney to represent him who doesn’t share his code about drunk drivers.
