http://www.timesunion.com/tupl.....in-1-a-m-7945177.php


Schenectady
A city woman who Mayor Gary McCarthy confronted last week told police that he smelled of alcohol and appeared "highly intoxicated" when he allegedly flashed his headlights at her vehicle and threatened to have her arrested as she was picking recyclables from trash bins.
The incident took place about 1 a.m. May 19 when the woman said the mayor began pursuing her and her friend as they drove past a McDonald's on Union Street. She drove to the city police station, with the mayor following her, reported the incident and said she wanted to press charges.
McCarthy, who met face-to-face with police officers at the station but was not arrested, on Wednesday said it was "absolutely incorrect" that he was intoxicated when he confronted the women, who he said were near his home and that he suspected might they have been breaking into cars. The mayor's house is on Lexington Avenue, about seven blocks from where the women said he began following them near the intersection of Dean and Union streets.
"The problem is when you have people that are really looking for cars that are open so they can loot and break into them," McCarthy said. "I wanted to know what they were doing."
The mayor said he saw the women picking through trash near his residence when he was putting out his garbage. He acknowledged identifying himself as the mayor and following the women's vehicle to police headquarters on Liberty Street.
The mayor said he tried to call police while he was in his GMC pick-up truck on the way to the police department, but that he had problems getting through and "the phone did not engage."
McCarthy declined to discuss what occurred when they arrived at the police station. The Times Union obtained a police document that describes the incident, and also a recording of a dispatcher recounting the mayor's confrontation with the women. The records raise questions about the department's handling of the matter and what unfolded that night.
The woman who filed the complaint, Sarah Dingley, 38, did not return several telephone calls seeking comment since Tuesday. Public records indicate Dingley has had brushes with police and been arrested on minor offenses.
The police document, which is known as a call ticket, provides an outline of the case and indicates Dingley told police that an "elderly w/m (white male)" who "looked rich" was flashing his lights at her and threatened to have her arrested.
She told police that she was afraid to get out of her car and the document indicated the mayor saying "she's picking up garbage."
The notes also indicate that she said the man "seems highly intoxicated," that she could "smell the alcohol on him," and wanted to press charges.
Despite her observations, the woman and McCarthy were interviewed separately by police and left without anyone arrested and no tickets issued, according to Lt. Mark McCracken, a city police spokesman.
"Both of those parties reported to the police station, they were interviewed separately, and no criminal activity took place," McCracken said. "There is no evidence that he (McCarthy) was intoxicated."
He added that "no crime took place, there's no police report, there's no probe, it was investigated on scene and that was it."
A voicemail notification from the Schenectady County Unified Communications Center in Rotterdam was broadcast around 6 a.m. May 19, roughly five hours after the incident, summarizing overnight activities and indicating that Schenectady police handled the matter outside their station.
The woman, the dispatcher says, reported that she was being chased by a male in a vehicle who "appeared to be intoxicated."
"The mayor was following the female due to some suspicious activity and the lieutenant did not observe any evidence of intoxication," the dispatcher said in the update to police commanders and other law enforcement officials who received the notification. The police official the dispatcher referred to is Lt. Wesley McGhee, who was the commander in charge at the time. He could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday and has not been accused of wrongdoing in his handling of the case.
Earlier this year, McGhee was one of several police supervisors who took a test to qualify to become the city's next police chief.
McCarthy, a Democrat re-elected in November to a second term, said "there is no basis" for a criminal probe and that "it's what was she doing up there on the streets" that really matters.
Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett said Wednesday morning during a brief conversation that he was not aware of the accusations or of any police probe into the incident.
pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson

whats new....

perhaps he was out with the sccc guy!!!


wow...he was out at 1 a.m.???

was the wife in the car too?

   I heard he likes to drink at Stoney's bar on Van Vranken. Don't know if connected ? They close at 1 a.m.
  If he does have a drinking problem and can't stop. He should probably seek help..

He was with UN-Steady Moono and his secretary. Why is it Schenectady is so lenient on drunkenness?? I know we've all been drunk and made mistakes but these are high profile people who can afford a taxi cab ...

I don't know if the mayor should be impeached but the SCC prez certain should ... double standards ...

You can listen to the 9+ minute audio of the 911 call here, it's about halfway down the article.
http://news10.com/2016/05/27/woman-claims-schenectady-mayor-was-chasing-her-from-his-neighborhood/

Councilman Riggi asks for independent investigation, and Perazzo says the MAYOR put himself at risk????? What about the woman he was chasing????
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2016/may/27/0527_mac/?dgzrg

http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2016/may/29/pursuit/



As each second unwinds in the riveting 911 audio tape of the frantic woman being chased through the dark streets of Schenectady by Mayor Gary McCarthy, more questions keep racing through your head:

What the hell is happening here?

Why is he chasing her?

How long before she gets to the police station? Is she there yet?

What’s he doing now?

Why is he getting out of his car?

Listen to the call
Sarah Dingley's 911 call
Why aren’t the police officers out there yet? What’s he saying?

What’s taking the cops so damn long?

Even more serious questions come afterward, about the conduct of the mayor, the conduct of the officers at the scene and in the crucial minutes after the chase ended, and in the conduct of city government officials in failing to document the incident and in refusing to answer questions or release any other evidence that will let the public know what really happened here.

What did take the officers so long?

Were they aware of how serious this incident could have been?

Did they know it was the mayor before they came out, and if so, did that influence their response?

Is the seemingly nonchalant manner in which they responded to this frantic 911 call typical and how would they handle the situation if my wife or daughters were involved?

How much did the 911 operator convey to city police about what was happening and were they aware of the potential seriousness?

Why did three officers approach the mayor before anyone went to talk to the woman in the van?

If the woman said the man chasing her was drunk, why wasn’t he given a breathalyzer test to determine his blood-alcohol content?

Why didn’t they press charges?

Did they talk the woman out of it later?

Did they just let the mayor drive home?

Why didn’t they bring both parties into the police station for a consultation?

Why, when city police realized the mayor was involved, didn’t they call in an independent police agency like the state police to take over, knowing the potential for a conflict of interest?

Sara Foss column
Whatever happened wasn't very mayoral

Did the mayor get special treatment because he was the mayor?

There are some questions for which we already have answers.

We do know that the mayor’s conduct, no matter his justification, was inappropriate, dangerous and potentially criminal. There was no reason for him to act the way he did, chasing a driver through the city streets, flashing his lights, pulling out in front of the woman’s vehicle and blocking it, demanding she get out of the car and go into the police station with him. What was his end game? She led him to police. Was he planning to just pull her over? It doesn’t matter if he thought she was committing a crime. That’s why you call the police, to handle such things. But somehow, his phone malfunctioned when he tried to call.

How were the women to know if this driver wasn’t some psycho trying to pull them over to rape or murder them? Would you?

The mayor even put his own safety in jeopardy. What if the people he was chasing were armed and started shooting at him instead of garbage pickers or car burglars or drug users, as he says he thought they were? (His story keeps evolving.)

We tell drivers, particularly women, that if they feel threatened by someone, even someone identifying themselves as a police officer, to call 911 and drive directly to the police station. That’s what these women, clearly feeling threatened, did.

The mayor knew what to do when he witnessed a crime. He knew how his conduct could have been perceived by the driver he was following. He knew all this, yet he did it anyway. And for that, only he can answer.

Not forthcoming
We also know that police are not being forthcoming about their activities, beyond the release of the 911 call. Police Commissioner Wayne Bennett isn’t answering questions about the incident. The city police department’s spokesman, Lt. Mark McCracken, not only has been less than forthcoming, but has been belligerent to reporters asking legitimate questions to which the public deserves answers.

As of Friday, no camera footage from the police station or along the route of the pursuit had been released that could give the public a genuine perspective of how the mayor’s chase really played out — such as how close he got to the vehicle and how often he flashed his lights — nothing that might give indications of his degree of belligerence or potential intoxication.

Police didn’t document the incident, as far as they’ve said. There’s no standard incident report for the public to review, no report from police on their interview with the mayor or the women involved.

Nothing that could shed more light. Nothing to assure the public that this was handled properly or that a similar incident would be handled properly if you or I or someone we loved were involved.

The only way for the public to be sure this matter isn’t being swept under the rug — either to protect the mayor or the police for the way they handled the situation — is for state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office to conduct an independent review of all that happened that night.

McCarthy was a longtime investigator in District Attorney Robert Carney’s office prior to entering public office. An investigation by the Schenectady district attorney’s office would present an obvious appearance of a conflict.

The attorney general’s office would be able to review all the cameras and to get responses from all the involved parties — including the mayor, the driver, other witnesses, the 911 operator, the officers at the scene and their superiors. His investigators could ascertain whether police should have tested the mayor for drunken driving or whether they should have documented their interviews and filed a report.

Take it out of the hands of the city officials entirely. Remove the cloud of suspicion.

If the investigation exonerates the mayor and the police, all’s well. But if it turns out there was manipulation and malfeasance, the investigation would ensure the offending parties are properly punished.

All the public wants here is the truth.

At the very least, the citizens are entitled to that.

True colors. Shining through.

these are all over facebook................

................more from facebook...

It's been pretty common knowledge that Gary is a drunk and that he "bends" the law for years. The residents of Schenectady are simply so stupid, and the Republicans somehow never mention the obvious, that alas this keeps happening. I don't expect anything to change and neither should you....

This is pretty troubling behaviour ... even if he spotted some women stealing soda cans or what ever from his garbage, who would follow them through red lights in some mad chase ? I put out the cans on purpose separately so the homeless can get them ... What a winner. Still he has a lot of time to recover and the people will re-elect him .... you know they will .......

Bar buddies .......