Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s security detail was involved in a two-vehicle accident in September while using “emergency lights” and sirens, sending a Cobb County man to the hospital complaining of minor injuries, according to a police report obtained through an open records request.
The Sept. 9 accident happened at the intersection of Cumberland Parkway and West Paces Ferry Road with Reed as a passenger, according to a Cobb County Police report.
The news, which was first broadcast Friday by Channel 2 Action News, comes just three days after the station's investigative story questioning the mayor's use of "blue lights," which are typically employed only in emergency situations, some experts say.
They reported news crews observing the mayor using the lights 10 times over five weeks to get to speaking engagements, ribbon cuttings and other routine appointments. Some observers say the mayor's actions violate state law for the use of emergency blue lights.
Efforts by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reach Reed were unsuccessful Friday evening.
In the September accident, Reed’s GMC Yukon was merging onto West Paces Ferry when the vehicle clipped the back of a 1995 Toyota Corolla driven by Michael Hogan of Austell.
Hogan’s car spun around before the driver pulled over to the right shoulder. The GMC Yukon, driven by Steven Nichols, part of Reed’s security detail, was using its emergency lights and sirens, the report states. Nichols was reprimanded after an investigation of the accident.
Hogan told Cobb Police he was “shaken up a bit and needed an ambulance,” the Cobb report said. He was transported to Cobb General Hospital.
Reached at his home on Friday, Hogan said, “Unfortunately at this time I don’t have any comment.”
Atlanta Police Chief Turner George Turner told Channel 2 on Friday that he has given Reed’s detail the authority to use lights and sirens at their discretion because the mayor has received thousands of threats.
“My job as the police chief is to protect our mayor and his family and that’s what we’re going to do,” Turner said.
In earlier interviews, Reed said his use of “blue lights” was “right and it’s legal,” before referring reporters’ questions to city attorneys, who have declined to comment.
Vincent Champion, southeast regional director for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, told Channel 2, “To use the lights and sirens the way he’s using them, to clear the intersections to get through is not legal in the state of Georgia by statute.”
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who preceded Reed in office, said she could not remember using the lights during her eight-year tenure. Gov. Nathan Deal also said he does not use emergency lights to make appointments.
Reed’s spokeswoman Anne Torres told Channel 2 there were valid security reasons for usage of the lights.
“The Atlanta Police Department’s [APD] Executive Protection Unit is responsible for ensuring and monitoring the safety of Mayor Kasim Reed, ” Torres said. “APD must evaluate threats to the Mayor’s safety based on the information presented, and make strategic decisions to guarantee the security of the Mayor, including measures to facilitate his safe transport as he conducts business on behalf of the City of Atlanta.”
