Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says she is feeling fine after a car crash Tuesday, but she did not say why the vehicle she was in had its emergency lights on when it was not heading to an emergency.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has briefly addressed the crash her city vehicle was involved in on Tuesday in Roslindale, and a newly released police report showed that three people were taken to the hospital after the crash, including a child and the officer who was driving Wu.
The mayor's black electric Mustang SUV had its police lights on during the crash, but it's not yet clear why — Wu didn't say when asked by reporters at an event Wednesday and the police report didn't offer an explanation. No one was seriously hurt in the crash, according to the mayor's office.
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Surveillance video shows the moment the SUV, which appears to be making a left at the intersection of Hyde Park Avenue and Blakemore Street, get hit by another SUV. The mayor's vehicle did not have the green light, based on the video.
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The driver of the other vehicle, Yosmery Peña, told NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra she didn't have time to hit the brakes when she saw the cruiser, and that the crash was traumatizing.
Three people were hospitalized in the crash, according to the Boston police report: a woman and a young child, who were in the SUV that hit the mayor's vehicle, and the police officer who was driving Wu. Wu, named in the report only as a person "known to the Commonwealth," said she had minor pain on her right side but declined medical attention.
The report noted that the mayor's unmarked electric Mustang had its lights and sirens activated ahead of the crash, but didn't say why.
The SUV "stopped at the red light, then slowly approached the intersection to ensure that the oncoming traffic travelling outbound on Hyde Park Avenue were able to see and hear the cruiser entering the intersection," the driver wrote in the police report. The Mustang was in the second of two lanes when it was hit, and the officer noted that the other vehicle "did not stop or slow down for the cruiser's lights and siren."
The crash took place outside the headquarters of a Boston police detectives union, and three police sergeants were at the scene.
The woman and child in the SUV that hit the mayor's vehicle initially declined medical attention, but an ambulance was still called to the scene to evaluate the two of them and ended up taking them to the hospital for further evaluations. The police officer was hospitalized and discharged the same day.
Wu was asked about the incident at an event Wednesday, her first in public since the crash. She said she was OK and didn't initially answer the questions about why the lights were on; after the event, she told reporters she was not headed to an emergency and only said there was as an internal review into the crash underway.
A store clerk who saw the aftermath of the crash took a photo showing the mayor standing with a group of people.
Peña she was returning home with her 1-year-old baby after dropping off her other two children at school when the accident happened.
"I didn't really see them. I was driving and, since the traffic light was green when I was crossing, that's where we collided," she said in Spanish.
Peña still remembers the panic she felt after the collision, calling it "very traumatizing because I didn't think about myself, I thought about the baby."
She said that a police vehicle should use caution as it crosses traffic.
"She didn't stop and I didn't have time to hit the brakes," Peña said, adding that she was nevertheless grateful to Wu for how she reacted after the crash.
A representative for the mayor's office issued a statement about the crash Tuesday night: "Thankfully no one sustained any major injuries. The Boston Police Department will conduct an investigation of the incident as they do with all crashes involving departmental motor vehicles."
