I-Team: Another worker with a child in a government car

Ed Gallek
·2 min read
10

CLEVELAND (WJW) — A taxpayer turned to the Fox 8 I-Team with a video of a child getting out of a county vehicle outside a school. This comes after a recent firestorm over kids in City of Cleveland cars.

So, we investigated.

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The citizen video shows a pick-up truck with a county license plate. A child gets out of the truck at a Cleveland high school. A taxpayer recorded it since he said he’d seen it before.

He also said he’s followed recent I-Team reports showing fallout from Cleveland city officials driving with kids in their government cars.

In light of all of that, Eric Williams took special notice of what he saw happening with a county car.

“I think there’s a trust put into people who have access to things paid for by the taxpayers. They shouldn’t be used for personal errands,” he said. “I’ve seen this many times.”

This comes just days after a Cleveland Department of Public Safety official got fired for crashing while driving with kids in a city car.

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And, weeks ago the safety director resigned after admitting to us he had driven with his son in a city car. City policy does not allow for anyone in city cars except employees.

For this case, we took the license plate number and investigated which county agency uses that truck.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety sent a response with key information blacked out even though this involves a public agency. But, we kept digging.

We found that in this case, a juvenile got out of a truck that belongs to the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority.

Now, CMHA has issued a statement.

It said in part, “One of our non-executive employees utilized a CMHA vehicle to transport a non-CHMA affiliated individual during work hours. We are actively investigating the situation. We will determine which, if any, CMHA policies were violated and whether disciplinary action is warranted.”

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That witness does not want government vehicles used for anything personal.

Erie Williams said, “We should be able to get to the bottom of who is driving, what they’re doing. Just make sure there’s accountability for the people we’re putting our trust in.”

In the meantime, the city hall has been conducting an overall review of the use of city vehicles. We’ll update this story once CMHA completes its internal investigation.

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