Councilwoman Y. Laketa Cole calls the cops on the cops

May 22, 2009

Cole defends calls during traffic stop

By Alex Shebar | enquirer.com

Councilwoman Y. Laketa Cole was pulled over Wednesday by Cincinnati
police for a minor traffic violation and called two high-ranking
Cincinnati officials while still at the scene.

Cole and a friend were driving their motorcycles about 3:30 p.m. on
Mitchell Avenue when they were flagged down by police. Cole admitted
calling both Lt. Col. Michael Cureton of the Cincinnati Police and
City Manager Milton Dohoney about the incident, but said she was not
making a play for favoritism.

Cole and Cornelius Scroggins, 37, were pulled over for illegally
crossing lanes, and both were ticketed.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/I-Team-Play-For-Favors-At-Traffic-Stop/NZ25ZNeupEOz2TcjPM_O1Q.cspx"
target="_new">Watch the cruiser cam video

Court records show that Scroggins had multiple traffic tickets and
charges. Police were going to tow Scroggins’ motorcycle. Cole said it
was a specialized bike that had to be towed with a flatbed truck, or
it could be damaged, and the city would be liable. She wanted to make
sure the officers would do that.

“I kept asking the officer when he said he was going to tow it, and he
kept saying, ‘Go wait over by the bike,’ ” she said. “But my concern
was to make sure it was a flatbed truck.”

Cole called Cureton, and he instructed the officers to wait for the
right kind of truck, she said. It was eventually towed by that kind of
vehicle.

During the incident, Cole also called Dohoney. She wanted to know why
three police officers were involved in the stop.

“The police officers are doing their job, and I respect that,” she
said. “My question was, I didn’t know if it was necessary during rush
hour for there to be three cop cars for a traffic ticket.”

Dohoney confirmed that was the topic of their conversation.

“Councilwoman Laketa Cole did call me from the scene, explained to me
that she had been pulled over and inquired why there were three police
vehicles at a traffic stop,” he said in a statement. “I told her I
wasn’t sure. She did not ask for any special treatment.”

Cole said she did not try to use her power as a councilwoman
inappropriately. She did not see the original news report on the
incident, done by WCPO Channel 9’s I-Team, but was angered that it
might have insinuated wrongdoing on her part.

“I didn’t think a ticket is newsworthy,” she said. “I’m not the only
member of council that gets a ticket. We’re still human, we get
tickets, and, yes, we have to pay our tickets.”

Police officials could not be reached for comment Friday night.

Cole thinks that she did not cross the lines on her motorcycle and was
ticketed unfairly. Still, she said she’ll pay the ticket.

“Because of all the media, it’s easier just to pay it out, even though
I don’t see that I did anything wrong,” she said. “I think it’s gotten
bigger than it actually is.”

This is not Cole’s first run-in with police. In October 2007, during
her re-election campaign, Cole got into a fight with another woman
over a boyfriend. Neither was charged. Police said Cole asked that her
name be left off the police report, but Cole said it was police who
suggested she remain anonymous.

Police officials checked open records laws and later added her name to
the report.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...g+traffic+stop
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- gpsman

> “I kept asking the officer when he said he was going to tow it, and he
> kept saying, ‘Go wait over by the bike,’ ” she said. “But my concern
> was to make sure it was a flatbed truck.”

Stupid question: how else would you transport a motorcycle, other
than by riding it? Run a sling under it and dangle it from the boom
of a regular tow truck, maybe? Drop it into a King Kong version of
the kind of bus bicycle rack that cradles the wheels? I've never seen
one being transported except in/on a truck bed or a trailer.


--Joe