Exclusive: Mayor Pizzi Can't Recall Whether He Hit Bar Before Hitting Tree
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MIAMI LAKES (CBSMiami) -- On the evening Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi crashed his car into a tree on N.W. 82nd Avenue, he ran from the scene, according to a 911 call obtained by CBS4 News.
At about 8:30 p.m on June 15th, Pizzi rammed his Kia sedan into an oak tree, telling police he had swerved to avoid an animal in the road. Police, at the time, reported Pizzi left the scene to have a neighbor tend to a cut on his forehead.
The 911 caller said Pizzi left the scene in a hurry.
"There's a car that just had an accident with a tree, and the guy left, running," the caller told a police dispatcher.
"The guy hit the tree and he left running away on foot?" the dispatcher asked.
"Yeah. And he left the car right in the middle of the street," the caller replied.
Pizzi as of late Thursday afternoon had not responded to CBS4's messages requesting comment.
Earlier in the day, however, before the 911 call was released, CBS4's Gary Nelson interviewed Pizzi about his accident. It was his first comments, other than a written statement, since the crash.
Where had Pizzi been, what was he doing before the accident?
"I was at city hall, meeting with some constituents," Pizzi told Nelson. "I was actually on my way home."
But CBS4 learned, and the night manager confirmed, that Pizzi was at the Cancun Grill, in the bar area, before the crash. The manager would not say what if anything Pizzi had to drink, and declined to provide any receipts or security video from the interior of the bar area.
What about Pizzi's response to being at the bar before the crash?
"I don't recall being at Cancun (Grill)," Pizzi said.
"Surely you would remember if you were at the Cancun Grill," Nelson asked.
"No," Pizzi replied.
"You do not remember if you were at the Cancun Grill?" Nelson asked again.
"No, no," Pizzi said.
When police reached the smashed tree and car, Pizzi had left the scene.
"Where did you go when you left the scene?" Nelson asked.
"Well, I just, I went across the street to my house and had a tow truck come and the tow truck came," replied Pizzi.
Police said Pizzi told them he went to the nearby home of a friend to get help with a cut on his forehead. Pressed by Nelson, Pizzi said he both went to his home to call a two truck, and also got a friend to put some "hydrogen peroxide" on his cut.
As for the mayor's assertion that his house was across the street from the accident scene? It's not. It is down the street, around a corner, down another street and in a gated community nearly three quarters of a mile away.
When asked why he didn't use his cell phone to call for help, Pizzi first said his phone was "not operable," and then said he didn't have his cell phone with him.
Pizzi insists he was sober.
"I did not drink any alcohol. There was no alcohol," Pizzi said.
The police report says there was no indication Pizzi was impaired.
The report does say Pizzi operated his car in a "careless or negligent manner."
No citation was issued though, because police say no one witnessed the impact. That would seem to differ with the 911 caller, whose call suggests he saw the crash.
Pizzi called questions over his run-in with the tree much ado about nothing.
"I was involved in an accident, with no other cars, no injuries, no charges. If it wasn't me, nobody would care," he said.
Pizzi, who beat federal corruption charges and survived a grinding collision with an oak, was greeted by adoring constituents at Thursday's hurricane awareness event.
"You have done such great things for this community," one man told the mayor.