In wake of an accident that sends 3 to hospital, Michelle Wu avoids transparency.
Share:
As most of the city knows, Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu was involved in a motor vehicle accident on June 6, 2023, at approximately 9:50 am which left her newly purchased electric vehicle severely damage. Mayor Wu is still dodging accountability for this incident.
Traffic camera video shows Wu’s unmarked 2023 electric police car going through a red light at the intersection of Blakemore and Hyde Park Ave with flashing blue lights. Although the video below does not include audio, the use of sirens is corroborated by this police report.
The report itself doesn’t mention Wu by name but simply refers to her as a “passenger who is known to the Commonwealth.”
In the video, it is clear that Wu’s vehicle traveled through a red light before being struck by a passenger vehicle.
As a neighbor’s pictures show, Wu remained in the passenger seat as her detailed police driver, Officer Keyanna Smith, stood outside of the damaged vehicle on her cell phone, radio in hand. The other car is visible in the frame and appears to show a distressed mother, later identified as Yosmery Pena, holding her one-year-old child while speaking on the phone.
When asked about the incident, Ms. Pena, speaking through the use of a translator, stated that Wu’s vehicle pulled out in front of her and that she did not see or hear them.
As Boston 25 News reports, Pena says the entire incident made her “very scared” as she kept “worrying about her baby in the backseat.” Pena further acknowledged that Mayor Michelle Wu stayed around the incident for several minutes afterward and kept checking on Pena as well as her baby.
Initially, Mayor Michelle Wu was reluctant to speak about the incident herself. Rather, Wu simply stated that she does not know all the “rules and procedures” and that Boston Police would follow protocol as they do whenever a department vehicle is involved in an accident.
After several days of media pressure, Wu elaborated that she was looking through documents on her phone while in the passenger seat.
Wu states she was unaware of the situation until she heard the collision begin.
Eventually succumbing to public demand for transparency, Wu admitted that her vehicle was not responding to an emergency at the time of the incident. According to Wu, the vehicle was actually bringing her to an event at Copley’s Boston Public Library.
As The Boston Globe has revealed, however, Wu’s only public event scheduled that day was for 11:30 a.m. in Roxbury and not the Copley library.
This begs the question of whether driving around the city using emergency lights and sirens in non-emergency situations is an appropriate practice for an elected official.
Both Boston Police Rules & Procedures #302: “Emergency Driving” as well as Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Chapter 89, Section 7B seem to answer this question.
MGL states that vehicles equipped with emergency indication devices (i.e., lights and sirens) are subject to the same rules and regulations of the road as all other vehicles unless they are “in an emergency and while in performance of a public duty or while transporting a sick or injured person to a hospital.”
Ethical considerations aside, to assume that Michelle Wu - a Harvard-trained lawyer who had served in the legislative branch of city government since 2014 prior to becoming Mayor - was unclear about the law governing the use of emergency lights to expedite her travel around the city is a dubious proposition at best.
Despite repeated inquiries by both local media outlets and countless Boston residents, Wu continues to skirt the question as to whether or not she thinks using lights and sirens for personal benefit is an appropriate use of Mayoral authority?
Wu’s unwillingness to answer this basic question is alarming for a host of reasons, none more so than the fact she campaigned on a platform of accountability, transparency, and accessibility.
Wu herself can be quoted as saying that “the most fundamental part of [her] job is empowering civic engagement through transparency and accessibility.”
Being a newly established watchdog group that is intent on bridging the divide between elected officials and their constituents, BAN firmly believes that Mayor Michelle Wu has an obligation to answer the public’s questions; a duty to put her words into action while delivering the level of transparency, accessibility, and accountability Boston’s residents were promised and that they deserve.
As such, BAN is formally submitting the following to Mayor Michelle Wu for comment:
Do you believe that utilizing lights and sirens to travel around the city is an appropriate use of your authority as Mayor? If yes, why? If not, why did you?
Why were you traveling with lights and sirens on to an event at Copley Library that you were not scheduled to attend?
Was the accident called in over the radio or by Officer Smith’s cell phone? If the latter, why?
You have stated that you were unaware of the situation until the sound of the collision. How is this possible if you were traveling with lights and sirens on?
Did you direct Officer Smith to drive with lights and sirens on through the red light? If yes, why? If not, why would she feel comfortable doing so in your presence?
Did you direct your name be omitted from the police report? If so, why? Are you included on Form CRA-23 (MA Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report) and Form 45 (City of Boston Vehicle Accident Report)? Are you willing to release those reports to the public?
According to a statement made to The Boston Globe, you drove in the ambulance with 2 of the victims as they were transported to the hospital. One of these victims, however, states only that you stayed around for several minutes after the incident. Which is the truth? Did you drive with her to the hospital or did you stay around for several minutes afterwards?
The city has a practice of suspending, without pay, supervisors who are riding in a city vehicle when a subordinate employee is found to be driving recklessly and is involved in a collision. Based on your own statements, it appears you have passed the responsibility for investigating this incident onto the Boston Police Department. Are they now responsible for investigating your actions as the supervisor of that vehicle? If their investigation finds that your vehicle was operated with reckless behavior and/or without due regard for public safety, will you be held accountable as others have been?
BAN will release an update to this article when and if Mayor Michelle Wu provides answers to these questions for accountability and transparency.
To help expedite this process, please take a moment to reach out to the Mayor’s office at mayor@boston.gov and/or call (617) 635-4500 urging her to respond to these public concerns.
Share:
Have you ever received an answer?
Hi Philipp, thanks for reading our article. To date, and despite reaching out to both Mayor Wu and the city of Boston’s press office numerous times, the Mayor has not responded to these questions.