D.C. Mayor Gets a Free Pass on Red Lights

Editor's Note: The following story contains video of Mayor Fenty racing across town with a police escort. Please click the play button on the right hand side of your screen to watch.

WASHINGTON -- Ever wish you could just run a red light when you were in a hurry?

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty does it all of the time.

WTOP Radio has learned the mayor does it on an almost daily basis.

Fenty often races from community event to community event and has found it impossible to stay on-schedule without a little help from his security detail.

"If you're trying to make sure that you're on time so that the business of the city does not have to wait, stop or be delayed, I think it is appropriate," Fenty told WTOP Radio.

Fenty acknowledged that he has used the sirens to get to at least one non-government event -- a political fundraiser -- but says he was coming from a government event.

WTOP Radio witnessed the mayor using the sirens on more than one occasion over the course several weeks, which is an apparent violation of D.C. Code.

The D.C. Code states:

Whenever an emergency vehicle is equipped with a siren, the siren shall not be used except when the vehicle is being operated in response to an emergency call; or in the immediate pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law, in which case, the driver of the vehicle shall sound the siren when necessary to warn pedestrians and other drivers of the approach of the vehicle.

WTOP Radio contacted the Metropolitan Police Department, which refused to comment on the mayor's security detail as a matter of policy.

The Washington Post reports that Fenty's wife also gets the same treatment.

Fenty says this only happens when she is attending city functions and says he plans to cut back on the number of events he schedules.

"I think a large part of what I do is being in places -- showing up. We're going to keep working until we strike the right balance."

(Copyright 2007 by WTOP Radio. All Rights Reserved.)