Dozens of celebrities, sports teams and dignitaries were given D.C. police escorts when Chief Cathy Lanier ran the division that provides the escorts, according to written testimony submitted Thursday to the D.C. Council by Commander Hilton Burton, who heads the division now.
Names on the list from 2002 to 2006 included Paul McCartney, Hillary Duff, Billy Joel, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.
Burton also says that the day after the April 19 escort of actor Charlie Sheen from Washington Dulles International Airport, he was ordered by Lanier’s office to develop an order that would prohibit escorts for anyone other than the president, vice president and foreign dignitaries.
“The requirements for the escort policy continued to evolve until a final draft was issued on April 24,” Burton wrote.
His testimony is part of a council hearing Thursday called in response to the escorts and the changing statements made by Lanier following the Sheen escort and another, days later, for the N.Y. Rangers.
