Mayor Fenty Takes Heat For Backing Up Traffic

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- Mayor Adrian Fenty is taking some heat for what some are calling an abuse of power.

The issue stems from his frequent bike rides when he uses police escorts and ties up traffic. WTOP reporter Mark Seagraves spent four months following the mayor after the journalist noticed on many occasions, he found himself stuck behind a biking caravan led by Fenty.

"I just kept encountering him on my daily commute because I drive Rock Creek Parkway so frequently and I would get stuck behind the mayor on his rides," Seagraves explained. "So I just thought I would just start taking a camera out with me."

Instead of riding on the bike trail along Rock Creek Parkway, Mayor Fenty and his fellow bikers who train with him often ride in a pack on the main road. Seagraves said the group consistently held up traffic and broke traffic laws.

"Every time I saw him the behavior was the same: the running of the red lights, the running of stop signs and the riding on restricted roads. This wasn't just a one time event," said Seagraves.

In addition, Seagraves discovered that the Fraternal Order of Police had submitted a FOIA request that showed police officers from the Special Events Branch are routinely detailed for the "mayor's bike ride." Those officers would be doing other police duties but instead they are racking up hundreds of hours escorting the bikers. Seagraves also caught on camera how sometimes, those police spend a couple hours waiting for the mayor before the ride.

On Monday, the reporter confronted Mayor Fenty following a public event. The mayor challenged his journalism in a heated exchange.

"He had actually more questions for me than I had for him," Seagraves said. "He grilled me as if he was my college ethics professor on how I got my data how I was going to report it."

As the mayor pointed out on camera, less money is spent on his travel as was spent during the previous administration. He also conceded that he could do better at following the traffic laws during the training. On the police escort matter, he punted all questions to the police department.

Seagraves also asked him on Monday why the security detail needs to transport his bike to and from various events.

"Your detail and I'm now using the words of Council Member Phil Mendelson and Kris Baumann (with the police union) act as your valet to facilitate your recreational activities," charged Seagraves. "Do you think this is a legitimate use of our resources?"

Fenty fired back with a hypothetical question.

"If a governor went hiking. and their hiking equipment went with them, would they take the hiking equipment in their own personal car?" said Fenty. "For this story you're not going to research whether any other governors work out, if they take their equipment with them and how they take that equipment?"

Seagraves did include those points in his piece but he says they ignore the bottom line here.

"This is a mayor who holds himself up as one thing - a populist, a man of the people, someone who drives himself around in a Smart Car who doesn't use security at all," he said. "And then when it's convenient for him, he uses uniformed police officers...not his security detail...to facilitate his bike team which is sometimes 20-30 members strong. They drive around the metro region, block traffic and ignore traffic laws."