Mayor Jennings called Police Chief after minor accident

[MedicCook]

Mayor called top cop to crash
Mayor phoned police chief after his city-owned vehicle hit fire hydrant

ALBANY -- Mayor Jerry Jennings called the city police chief to a minor traffic accident last Saturday after the mayor's city-owned car collided with a fire hydrant as he was returning home from a basketball game of local college rivals.

The mayor was driving southbound on New Scotland Avenue at about 10:20 p.m. when an unidentified driver pulled in front of him from the Lukoil mini-mart at 792 New Scotland Ave., causing Jennings to swerve his SUV off the right side of the road into a fire hydrant, Police Chief James Tuffey said Friday.

The mayor, who has an assigned driver, was alone in the vehicle and called the police chief, who lives a few blocks away. "When the boss of the city calls me, I go," said Tuffey, who does not routinely visit minor accident sites.

Tuffey said he saw Jennings earlier that night at the basketball game between Siena College and the University at Albany in Albany. He said there was no sign alcohol was involved in the collision, and Jennings was not given a field sobriety test.

The chief called for a uniformed officer to take an accident report.

"It was put in the system, like anyone else," said the chief.

The mayor could not provide police with a description of the unidentified vehicle.

No other witnesses were listed on the report, which was filed by Officer Edward Markham. Jennings was wearing a seat belt, and the city-owned 2007 GMC Suburban sustained minor damage.

Jennings' executive assistant, Bob Van Amburgh, declined comment Friday. Jennings could not be reached for comment.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=543045&category=ALBANY&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=12/9/2006

[sws4420]

Tuffey said he saw Jennings earlier that night at the basketball game between Siena College and the University at Albany in Albany. He said there was no sign alcohol was involved in the collision, and Jennings was not given a field sobriety test.I'd put a decent amount of money that he was intoxicated. But of course we'll never know because his BAC isn't known.

[MedicCook]

That is the first thing I thought of also. Kind of like the captain of the Ethan Allen who was good friends with Sheriff Cleveland and never had any testing done until a couple of days later. Of course there was nothing in the system at that point. I doubt even if he called 911, he would have gotten a tested by the uniform's. The other thing that is strange is why is there no description of a vehicle given out? If you are claiming an imaginary vehicle pulled out in front of you, at least come up with a fake description. If this happened infont of a Mini-Mart, maybe looking at their camera's could shed some light on who was just in the store. I better stop their, before I do all the work for the PD.

[Bob]

A good question would be what time did the game end. Obviously, the Mayor isn't going to be drunk at such a highly publicized event so did he leave early and toss a few back or was he overtired and just had a boo boo?

[MedicCook]

We will never know.

[Bob]

Maybe there's a drunk out there somewhere that remembers seeing him pound a few. What a great interview that would be on the news.

[Josie]

when an unidentified driver pulled in front of him from the Lukoil mini-mart at 792 New Scotland Ave.,
The driver couldnt see him because of the tan i bet...:rotflmao:

[sws4420]

Mayor McCheese...he's the man....he's the guy with the orange tan...