CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Division of Police have been investigating an accident involving Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb that occurred last Thursday, June 13.
The department has now released body camera footage from the incident, which occurred at the intersection of 12th and Superior downtown.
In the body camera footage, an officer is speaking to the driver of Bibb’s vehicle who Police Chief Annie Todd said was one of the department’s members.
The driver of the mayor’s vehicle explained that he was heading westbound on superior, that he’d activated the lights, saw an individual on the corner get ready to cross but stop and then got hit by another vehicle.
He confirmed they had a red light but that they had their emergency lights on. The officer asked for what reason.
“(The) mayor needed to get somewhere… emergency meeting,” the driver said.
(Courtesy City of Cleveland)
The body camera footage was redacted before release. Police officials have not responded to questions about why the edits were made.
The driver of the other vehicle said he was coming across 12th street, saw a green light and then the black car came through the intersection.
The officer also had a short chat with Bibb, who was inside an ambulance where he was to be to the hospital as a precaution. He said his back hurt a bit. He had been in the back seat of the vehicle at the time of the accident.
Witnesses in the area confirmed to the officer that they saw the mayor’s vehicle flip the lights on.
A statement from Cleveland Police Chief Annie Todd on June 14 stated that the mayor’s driver, “was engaged in emergency response driving” at the time.
“Preliminary information indicates that the lights were activated outside of the emergency response driving policy,” her statement reads.
She states that the police are still investigating and have begun “an internal review of potential policy violations,” for which the range in punishment could include a verbal warning all the way to a three-day suspension.