Howard Redmond, the head of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s executive security unit, covered up a 2015 crash involving the mayor to avoid bad “optics.”
“As per CO no one is to know about this,” Sgt. Jerry Ioveno said in August 2015 text messages to other members of the unit referring to Redmond and obtained by the New York Daily News. “Not even the other teams.”
“No one is to know,” Ioveno said once again.
There is no report of the crash available from the Department of Motor Vehicles records, and the text messages show Detective Edgar Robles was listed as the driver of the mayor’s backup SUV so as to give the appearance that de Blasio was not in the car that crashed, a source close to the executive security unit said.
The cover-up came as de Blasio has championed the city’s new Vision Zero initiative, which attempts to systematically eliminate traffic accidents.
“This status quo is unacceptable. The City of New York must no longer regard traffic crashes as mere ‘accidents,’ but rather as preventable incidents that can be systematically addressed,” the Vision Zero site says. “No level of fatality on city streets is inevitable or acceptable. This Vision Zero Action Plan is the City’s foundation for ending traffic deaths and injuries on our streets.”
Phillip Walzak, an NYPD spokesperson, claimed that the NYPD had investigated the crash “and determined the NYPD was at fault. Far from a cover-up, this in fact shows the exact opposite – the NYPD took this incident seriously.”
De Blasio’s crash cover-up has drawn criticism from Transportation Alternatives, a safe streets group, after de Blasio campaigned on running the most transparent mayoral administration in New York City’s history.
“The mayor could have played this so much differently,” said Joe Cutrufo, a spokesperson for the group.
“Why not get in front of it, snap a photo and put out a tweet saying they had a minor fender bender, nobody was hurt, and that they’ll be more careful next time? That the executive protection unit worked so hard to cover it up isn’t a good look for the NYPD, which hasn’t exactly been a leader in the city’s Vision Zero efforts,” he said.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment on the story.
