Inglewood Mayor Crashes Into Bike Cop

The omnipotence of security, action, and smartphone cameras mean fewer and fewer things are happening that aren’t caught on camera. This has afforded us with an ever-growing collection of “you have to see it to believe it” type videos. This one comes to us out of Los Angeles—the Exposition Park/USC area to be specific—and involves a random motorist, an LAPD cop, and the Mayor of Inglewood, James Butts Jr. . 

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The incident occurred on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 around 8:45AM near the corner of Exposition and Figueroa. The clip—which was recorded by a random security camera and then later obtained by ABC’s LA affiliate, KABC—shows a gray Honda heading south, while a northbound, black, late-model, Chevy Tahoe turns into the oncoming lane, reportedly in an effort to make a left turn into a USC parking lot. The rapidly approaching Honda collides with the Chevy—a government vehicle being driven by Mayor Butts at the time—sending the black SUV spinning and careening towards a nearby police officer who happened to be standing next to his patrol bike (what looks to be a BMW R1200RT-P).

The unnamed officer—a sergeant from the LAPD’s Central Traffic Division—is slammed by the SUV and sent flying into, off all things, a fountain! Luckily said officer was wearing a helmet at the time—a move that probably saved his life—though the collision still resulted in several broken bones for the patrolman—who is expected to make a full recovery. Paramedics responding to the crash also treated the driver of the Honda and her 4-year-old daughter for minor injuries, though Butts doesn’t appear to have suffered any physical harm.

Butts—who is currently serving his third term as Mayor of the LA suburb—is no stranger to law enforcement, having previously worked as not only a cop, but as chief of police in Santa Monica prior to his first mayoral run in 2011. During his time in law enforcement Butts served as a motorcycle officer and says he was struck by cars no less twice during that time.

Based on the footage (and the fact the Honda had a green light) it appears the Mayor was at fault here, though that’s kind of beside the point. As of the time of writing nobody has been charged with anything stemming from Tuesday’s crash which is currently under investigation.

Source: ABC News