ZERO VISION
Blaz crash hidden over bad ‘optics’ Gracie chief ran coverup, texts reveal
Mayor de Blasio’s NYPD protector at Gracie Mansion ordered that “no one is to know” about crash Hizzoner’s SUV was in on Aug. 22, 2015, texts obtained by the Daily News show.
On a Saturday morning in August 2015, Mayor de Blasio was in the back seat of a black NYPD Chevy Tahoe bound for an event in Harlem when a driver changing lanes slammed into his ride.
No one was hurt, but the commanding officer of the mayor’s executive protection unit, Howard Redmond, was furious. Text messages obtained by the Daily News show he immediately ordered the incident be covered up to protect de Blasio’s image.
“As per CO [the commanding officer] no one is to know about this,” Sgt. Jerry Ioveno texted members of the unit, referring to Redmond. “Not even the other teams.”
“No one is to know,” he repeated.
Text messages obtained by The News reveal that Redmond frantically covered up the Aug. 22, 2015, car crash due to concerns about “optics.” The previously unreported crash offers insight into the powerful commanding officer’s critical role covering up embarrassing episodes involving the mayor. It also hints at why Redmond remains in his post despite turmoil in the unit. The News has previously reported on allegations that Redmond covered up the case of an executive protection unit lieutenant accused of roughing up a sergeant at Gracie Mansion.
No report on the crash is publicly available in state Department of Motor Vehicles records. Redmond allegedly ordered that the cop behind the wheel, Detective Edgar Robles, be officially listed as the driver of a backup SUV, text messages show. That way, the unit could more plausibly claim the mayor wasn’t in the vehicle involved in the collision, a source close to the executive protection unit said.
The crash was covered up in part because of de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative, which seeks to reduce pedestrian and traffic deaths through stricter enforcement, according to multiple sources close to the executive protection unit. The Vision Zero site proclaims: “The City of New York must no longer regard traffic crashes as mere ‘accidents,’ but rather as preventable incidents that can be systematically addressed.”
State law requires all occupants of vehicles involved in accidents to stay at the scene. But a retired member of the executive protection unit said it wasn’t unusual for a VIP under the unit’s protection to be taken away as long as there was no serious injury.
NYPD spokesman Phil Walzak told The News that the NYPD investigated the accident involving de Blasio’s SUV “and determined the NYPD was at fault. Far from a coverup, this in fact shows the exact opposite – the NYPD took this incident seriously.” The NYPD did not reply to a request for additional comment.
Street safety advocates said the failure to document the crash involving de Blasio’s vehicle was peculiar, especially given the mayor’s self-proclaimed commitment to transparency.
“The mayor could have played this so much differently,” said Joe Cutrufo, a spokesman for the safe streets group Transportation Alternatives. “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.”
The accident was the second involving the unit that month. In another previously unreported collision, city First Lady Chirlane McCray’s vehicle was involved in a crash on Aug. 12, 2015, that is the subject of ongoing lawsuits. A DMV accident report shows that McCray was a passenger.
The two civilian drivers involved in the crash told The News the police version of events on the report is bogus.
“I knew it was total BS,” said Bianca Berkemeyer, whom the city considers at fault for $6,793 in damages.
“Even the way they dethis scribed the impact to my car, none of it made sense.”
City Hall declined to comment on the accidents.
Immediately after the Harlem crash involving de Blasio, Robles drove the SUV across the street, a source close to the mayor’s detail said. By the time the civilian driver had reached the vehicle, de Blasio had left it and was walking away with members of his detail, a source familiar with the incident said.
“Is Eagle p——d?” Ioveno asked in a text message, using de Blasio’s code name.
“Not really,” a detective wrote.
An hour later, the coverup kicked into gear, text messages show.
“Redmond hell-bent that doesn’t get out to anyone, we need to kill the story,” executive protection unit cop Jorge Bravo wrote.
“He went off on OPTICS of this detail – the little things (double-parking and crosswalk s—t),” Bravo added, referencing common complaints of street safety advocates who see double parking and vehicles in crosswalks as symptoms of a toxic car culture.
“No one is to know; also, Eagle was not in the limo … are we clear guys please?” Ioveno said, using the code word limo for the NYPD Chevy Tahoe.
Redmond allegedly became infuriated when members of the unit drove the damaged SUV back to Gracie Mansion instead of 1 Police Plaza. Both passenger-side doors of the vehicle were damaged. The ride was out of service for two weeks, the source close to the executive protection unit said,
suggesting that the damage was larger than the $1,000 minimum required to report a crash to the DMV.
“He’s p——d about people knowing the story of the accident, not the accident itself. And that the limo was brought back to [Gracie Mansion] and a press guy could have taken a picture,” Bravo wrote.
“He asked me to tell you guys all this and that we all need to be sharper.”
“It was nice working with you guys,” quipped Robles, seemingly concerned about getting transferred.
“Stop it,” another detective wrote.
A third detective wrote back, “Dude really — stop! That s—t happens bro!”
Marshall Bellovin, an attorney representing six former members of the mayor’s detail who have brought discrimination claims, said the episode was another example of the detail’s lack of transparency. His clients have said the unit’s culture of secrecy resulted in Redond mond wrongly passing them over for promotions.
“The text messages I’ve seen describe a plan where no one was to know that the mayor didn’t remain in his limousine after the accident. … There is even language in the texts that no one was to know about the police report concerning the accident,” Bellovin said.
“The common thread between the accident and my clients’ cases is the lack of transparency.”
The prior crash involving McCray occurred on the FDR Drive and was documented with the DMV, though exactly what happened is still being argued in court. In that crash, Berkemeyer’s 2004 Toyota sideswiped McCray’s SUV, resulting in a collision with a secreport NYPD vehicle and a 2005 Nissan driven by Cecilio Mendez, according to an accident obtained by The News.
Berkemeyer disputes that version. She said McCray’s vehicle hit her first.
“Even the way they described the impact to my car, none of it made sense,” she said.
McCray was quickly taken from the scene, according to Mendez and Berkemeyer, who said she didn’t realize the city’s first lady had been in the vehicle until she sat for a deposition last year.
“The way I see it is it is the city against two civilians.” Berkemeyer said.
Mendez had to have shoulder surgery due to the crash and said he suffers from backaches and neck pain. He’s sued the city and Berkemeyer. Mendez’s attorney Jack Grossman said the accident report looked suspicious. It includes no witness statements and a diagram of the crash is baffling.
“The way the police report is written, you can kind of tell they’re covering something up,” Grossman said. “If you see the diagram — it doesn’t make sense. … They seemed to whisk everybody away without anybody saying anything.”
The executive protection unit has been involved in more recent motor vehicle mishaps, as well. Accident reports obtained by The News show that Redmond himself was involved in a January 2018 crash in Suffolk County while behind the wheel of an NYPD SUV. An NYPD official said Redmond was off-duty and on his way home and that his vehicle was struck.
In July 2018, another cop, Christopher Pizzo, rear-ended a car in Huntington, L.I., while behind the wheel of an unbeen marked Honda sedan spotted at Gracie Mansion. A police official said Pizzo had not yet assigned to the executive protection unit at the time of this crash.
In October Pizzo crashed that same Honda into a utility pole in Nassau County. Pizzo was not on unit duties the day of the second crash, the official said.
In the mass of nervous texts the day of the de Blasio accident, one detective conveyed the seriousness of what was a minor crash. “I didn’t tell anybody anything,” he wrote.
“So that’s covered,” Bravo replied.
About 12:40 p.m. that day, as the detectives huddled at Gracie Mansion, they continued to worry about media coverage, though their secret was safe for the moment.
“Daily News guy still here on bench in front,” one wrote.