Cleveland top administrator who crashed city car fired following I-Team report
CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has learned a top administrator who crashed a City of Cleveland car with kids on board has been fired.
The mayor’s office confirms Assistant Safety Director Jakimah Dye was terminated Friday.
Her firing comes less than two months after the I-Team broke the news that Dye drove with kids in a city car and crashed in Warrensville Heights.
City records obtained by the I-Team show she did not have the proper insurance and didn’t immediately reveal to human resources she had been driving with children in a city vehicle.
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Last month, the I-Team also revealed the city has no record of an approval form signed for Dye to be able to drive a city car.
Additionally, just after the accident, Dye wrote in an internal email that she didn’t know about a city policy against having kids in the car.
Her boss resigned after telling the I-Team he didn’t know about the policy either.
“So I will tell you, I’ve had my son in the car. We review the policy. I didn’t know there was a problem. She had kids in the car. She’s a mother,” Safety Director Karrie Howard told us last month.
Back to the crash, Warrensville Heights police did not file any charges against Dye.
Meanwhile, at Cleveland City Hall, an employee accident review committee evaluated the crash and determined the accident was preventable.
We’ve also done more digging into Dye driving a city car.
Records obtained by the I-Team show, last year, Dye drove four different city vehicles. Cars and SUVs.
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Also, look at what we found in gas records. She filled up at city pumps putting in as much as $40, $50, $60 even $70 worth of gas.
In February, we also asked the safety director to explain why Dye even needs a city car. We were told she goes out to emergency scenes for police, fire and EMS.
However, five weeks ago, we asked for records of that. The city has not given us any records showing dates, times or locations when Dye responded to an emergency location in a city vehicle.
Sarah Johnson, Cleveland’s chief communications officer, released the following statement :
“Assistant Safety Director Jakimah Dye’s last day with the City of Cleveland was today, Friday, April 12, 2024. Following an accident in Dye’s city vehicle back in February, the department of human resources conducted a thorough investigation. The course of action determined was immediate termination. We respect the process and support the findings of the investigation. We thank her for her service.”
Dye has not returned our requests to discuss the situation.
Her termination letter, written by the Director of Public Safety Dornat Drummond, states she was found guilty of allegations of misconduct.
“The Department of Public Safety cannot operate and professionally meet its objectives while tolerating a failure to comply with professional expectations or being subject to utter disregard for policy,” the letter states. “Not only does the aforementioned conduct reasonably tend to diminish the esteem of the Department of Public Safety in the eyes of the public, it violates public trust in the Department and has no place in any Department or Division within the City of Cleveland.”
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