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During a televised debate Tuesday, hopeful Bernalillo District Mayor and Sheriff Manuel Gonzales hit incumbent Tim Keller with a series of allegations, including one about “a senior city official who drove drunk and was involved and involved in driving a city vehicle”. in a crash. “
Gonzales did not mention the officer by name, but his campaign later confirmed that Gonzales was referring to Chief Operations Officer Lawrence Rael.
Lawrence Rael
In a statement on Thursday, city spokeswoman Ava Montoya confirmed that Rael was involved in an accident, but called Gonzales’ accusations of drunk driving “false, defamatory and sadly motivated purely for political gain”.
The DWI allegation centers on a fender bender Rael drove into his car while driving a city car on Sept. 14. The incident occurred around 9:45 am when Rael was driving on Fifth and turned left at Tijeras at the green light. It’s just around the corner from the town hall. He crashed into a black truck, according to an Albuquerque City Risk Management report postmarked September 29.
The Journal couldn’t reach the driver of the truck on Thursday, but she told KOAT-TV she didn’t think Rael was drunk.
After the crash, she told the police station, Rael came up to her before she could get out of her truck. She said Rael gave her his card and said he worked for the mayor.
“It was very easy … Very funny, not a cop, it was very easy, very quick,” the woman said to KOAT.
A local media website posted a story about it last week, reporting that Rael neither called the police nor followed city policy.
City policy requires employees in city vehicles to call the police if they are involved in an accident, and Montoya admits that this process was not followed despite saying he reported the incident to risk management.
“Following City’s procedures, Rael went straight to risk management. He was directed to fill out a form, which he did, ”said Montoya. “Risk management then resolves these situations according to normal protocols.” She said there was no alcohol involved.
Montoya said the crash caused minor damage to both vehicles and no injuries. She said the truck driver was compensated $ 1,116 for the damage to her vehicle.
“Rael and the other driver both agreed to share information and, due to the minor nature of the accident, neither driver felt it necessary to bind law enforcement,” said Montoya.
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