ed galek and peggy galek
15 minutes ago
CLEVELAND (WJW) — A taxpayer alerted the Fox 8 I-Team to a video of a child getting out of a county vehicle outside a school. This comes in the wake of the recent firestorm involving a child in a car in Cleveland.
So, I looked into it.
A citizen's video shows a pickup truck with county license plates. A child steps out of a truck at a Cleveland high school. The taxpayer said he had seen it before, so he recorded it.
He also said he is following up on a recent I-Team report showing the consequences of allowing Cleveland city employees to drive with children in public vehicles.
Considering all this, Eric Williams paid special attention to what was happening with the county's cars.
“I think there's a trust placed in people who have access to something paid for by taxpayers. It shouldn't be used for personal business,” he said. “I've seen this many times.”
This comes just days after a Cleveland Department of Public Safety employee was fired for causing a crash while driving a city vehicle with a child inside.
Then, a few weeks ago, the safety director resigned after admitting to driving his son in a city car. City policy does not allow anyone other than employees to ride in city vehicles.
In this case, we obtained the license plate number and investigated which county agency was using the truck.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety sent a response that blacked out important information, even though public agencies were involved. But we kept digging.
In the incident, it was determined that the boy had gotten out of a Cuyahoga Metropolitan Area Housing Authority truck.
This time, CMHA released a statement.
“One of our part-time employees utilized a CMHA vehicle during work hours to transport an individual not affiliated with CHMA,” the report states in part. We are actively investigating the situation. We will determine which CMHA policy was violated and whether disciplinary action is warranted. ”
The witness does not want government vehicles to be used for private purposes.
Ellie Williams said: “We should be able to figure out who's driving and what they're doing. Make sure we're accountable to the people we put our trust in.”
Meanwhile, city hall is proceeding with a general review of the use of municipal vehicles. We will update this article once CMHA's internal investigation is complete.
