Missing Audio from Carmel Mayor Brainard's April Crash

Some of our readers up in Carmel told us about some more interesting facts involving Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard's April 2017 car crash. Our friends directed us to a follow up story done by WRTV's Paris Lewbel. Mr. Lewbel reported that only 1 of the 3 officers who responded to the April crash had their audio recording during at the scene.

Lewbel reporting on November 19th, 2017 said:

After Carmel Mayor James Brainard crashed his city vehicle in April, Call 6 Investigates uncovered that some of the dash camera video recordings from the scene are missing their audio.

Two Carmel Police officers arrived at scene minutes after Mayor Brainard crashed his city Ford Fusion along Third Avenue SW on April 20. Their two dash camera systems were recording, but for a period of almost 10 minutes, you can't hear any of the conversations between the two officers or their conversation with the mayor.

Instead, those two officer's dash camera systems only record audio from inside the car. In the first car on the scene, you can faintly hear the radio. In the second police car to arrive, just the sound of wipers.

It’s because the first two officers never turned on their wireless microphones, Call 6 Investigates’ learned after spending hours reviewing the police dash camera video from the scene of the crash. The only audio recorded on those systems was from an in-car microphone connected to the system.

It wasn’t until Carmel Police Lt. Adam Miller arrived almost 10 minutes after police initially responded, that you can actually hear conversations.

You can hear the other officers interacting with each other over Lt. Miller's microphone, but what could be key parts of the conversation between officers is impossible to hear.

Excerpts from a conversation Lt. Adam Miller and another office at the scene:

Lt. Miller: "He's walking back to City Hall to talk to Barb, so he can go get his pee test."         

Officer 2: "OK good. (unintelligible)"      

Lt. Miller: "I know, he's going to have to go get tested."

Officer: (unintelligible)   

Lt. Miller: "That's between me and you though."

We reached out to Carmel Police for an on-camera interview, they declined, but Chief James Barlow sent us an email. He says, "We currently do not require all officers to activate their in-car video system while at a traffic accident."  

Barlow cites the police department's policy, "The in-car audio/video system may be deactivated during non-enforcement activities such as when protecting accident scenes."  

"While investigating the accident you are referring to, the reporting officer had his audio/video recording,” Barlow said. “The two other officers did not have their audio system on and are not required to by policy."

Call 6 Investigates confronted Mayor Brainard about the incident. When asked if Brainard believed he was "above city policy" since there is no record of a drug or alcohol test following the crash. He responded, "I'm not talking about this today" before walking away. 

Carmel's employee handbook states the mayor and other elected officials aren't required to follow rules in the city handbook. 

Call 6 Investigates also emailed each member of the city council to learn if they were aware of the exemption. RTV6 is still awaiting a response from each member.

Indy Republican has not heard any word on when or if the Carmel Police Department, Mayor Brainard, or any members of the Carmel City Council have spoken further about whether the Mayor and other elected officials are exempt from the rules that are binding on Carmel City employees. We have heard rumors that Brainard may decide not to run for another term. We will let you know more when we hear something. It would not surprise us if Mayor Brainard decides to retire. He certainly is acting like a man with something to hide. Here is a video of him dodging Paris Lebel's questions about his April car accident:

The Continuing Mystery of Carmel Mayor Brainard's April Joyride

Back in May we reported on Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard's suspicious April 2017 car accident. In that same post we also mentioned that this is not the first car accident that Brainard has had during his almost quarter-century reign as Mayor of Carmel:

In November 2002, he T-boned a school bus in a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer, while attempting to turn left on 99th Street to Westfield Boulevard. No one was injured, but both vehicles were damaged.

We also provided some information revealed to INDY REPUBLICAN by our sources about Jim Brainard:

As far as we can deduce from the information available to us we cannot see any evidence of the police acting improperly at this time. But Brainard's stating that he was fatigued at the time of the incident, along with rumors that Brainard has been suffering from some unrevealed health malady for some time now, possibly prior to 2010. Coupled with sources telling IR that Mayor Brainard is reputed to be very hyperactive, an extreme multitasker, and now having been involved in two traffic accidents during his 20 year reign as mayor. This does raise very serious questions about whether he is physically up to the demands of his job. He may very well be. We strongly would recommend to Mayor Brainard that he get himself medical care ASAP. He also needs to be straight forward with Carmelites about his health. If he is not careful he or others maybe hurt or even killed. 

We had heard nothing further about this case until last night, when WRTV's Paris Lewbel reported that their is no record of Mayor Brainard having taken an alcohol test in relation to this car accident.

Mr. Lewbel reported:


Carmel city officials say there is no record of Mayor Jim Brainard taking a drug or alcohol test after he crashed a city vehicle in April. They also say – despite the city’s own employee alcohol policy – that he didn’t have to.
On April 20, Brainard crossed the center line and crashed his city vehicle into a trailer while driving on 3rd Avenue Southwest.

The mayor told responding officers that he thought he may have fallen asleep, and that he’d been “struggling to stay awake earlier.”

After checking to make sure he wasn’t injured, the officers offered to give Brainard a ride back to city hall. He declined multiple times, saying instead that he would walk back.

One of the officers, Carmel Police Lt. Adam Miller, was wearing a wireless microphone that captured the conversation (You can hear the conversation yourself by clicking on the video at the beginning of this post):

Lt. Miller: “Mayor, how are you doing? You alright?”
Brainard: “I’m fine, thank you. I don’t know, I may have slipped over. I was struggling to stay awake earlier. But I don’t think so. Maybe.”
Lt. Miller: “As far as the whole testing process and everything, do you just want to do that through HR? Or do you want us to help you with that? How do you want to handle that?”
Brainard: “Oh, do I need to be tested? Yeah, I do, don't I?”
Lt. Miller: “Because it is a tow-away.”
Brainard: “Yeah.”
Lt. Miller: “If we’re going to tow it.”
Brainard: “Yeah, sure.”

Carmel’s drug and alcohol testing policy requires city employees driving city-owned vehicles to take a post-crash test as soon as possible if one ore more of the vehicles involved “incur disabling damage and must be transported away from the accident scene by a tow truck.”

Carmel Employee Policy

Based on the conversation caught by Miller’s mic, the officers thought Brainard was on his way to do just that.

Officer 1: “He’s walking back to City Hall to talk to Barb so he can go get his pee test.”         
Officer 2: “OK good.”      
Officer 1: “I know, he’s going to have to go get tested.”

The official report for the incident lists fatigue as a contributing factor to the crash. The boxes for drug and alcohol testing were left blank.


Following months of records requests and digging through crash reports, dash cam video and city policies, Call 6 Investigates found no evidence that the mayor ever submitted to a drug or alcohol test following the crash.
Call 6 Investigates specifically asked the city for any communications, invoices or proof that the mayor followed Carmel’s drug and alcohol testing policy and received the following response: “The city has identified no records that are responsive to your request.”

The city declined a request for an interview with Brainard, but was willing to answer questions via email.
Our first question: Why did the mayor fall asleep while driving?
“The mayor was very tired, having worked several long days in a row,” wrote Nancy Heck, director of community relations and economic development for the city of Carmel. “He had been in downtown Indianapolis for an early morning event and had not had a break while on his way to his next event.”
And about the mayor’s apparent acknowledgement that he might have to take a post-crash alcohol and drug test?
“The mayor, when talking to the police, said he understood he may have to take a test, but he also knew he had a speech to give at the historical society and he did not want to cancel at the last minute,” Heck wrote.

Heck also said that, despite the wording of the city’s employee drug and alcohol policy, the mayor is exempt from the post-crash testing requirement because he is an elected official.
Call 6 Investigates went through the city’s employee handbook and drug and alcohol testing policy and could not find any language exempting elected officials from it. Heck acknowledged that there is no language specifically exempting elected officials, but said they are, nevertheless, exempted.
“Elected officials are not employees. That’s not a policy, it’s just a fact,” Heck wrote. “They are not hired by the City. They are elected by the residents of Carmel.”

Heck said Brainard did in fact meet with officials in the HR department following the crash, but that he did not take a drug or alcohol test. She said the mayor had not had any alcohol on the day of the crash.
Call 6 Investigates was able to confirm that Brainard did keep his appointment to speak at the Carmel Clay Historical Society less than an hour after the crash.
The other driver involved in the crash was cited for driving without a license and driving without insurance. No injuries were reported by either party.

INDY REPUBLICAN would like to thank Mr. Lewbel for an excellent story last night. And for following up on this story. We are curious to find out if Mayor Brainard really is exempt from the policy that applies to those who work for him? We do not know if Brainard had taken any substances that day or if he was simply exhausted. But imagine that you or us had crashed a car into Jim Brainard's city vehicle. Would we be allowed to avoid taking a blood alcohol test? We don't thing so! Let us keep up the pressure on the media to get to the bottom of this. If Mayor Brainard God forbid has another car crash. He or others maybe injured or even killed.

Please click the contact tabs on the following news websites and demand they keep looking into this. Don't just call, email, or submit contact forms. Submit, email and call them every 15 minutes! 24/7 if nobody is there leave them a message on their voicemails! Hand deliver letters to there offices! Tell them the ghost of Gary Welsh sent you!

http://www.wthr.com

http://www.wrtv.com
http://www.wishtv.com
http://www.indystar.com

Also contact the City of Carmel Government itself. Here is the contact information for the City:

Carmel City Hall
One Civic Square
Carmel, IN 46032

Main phone: 317-571-2400

Mayor: Honorable James Brainard,
(317) 571-2401