College Park councilman accused of driving away from car accident

College Park Councilman Roderick Gay is under scrutiny following a car accident that occurred Saturday, Oct. 11, at Phillips Park — the same day as the Citywide Festival held in his ward. 

According to a police report, Gay was driving his personal vehicle, a BMW, when he backed into a parked Chevrolet Camaro, striking the side of the car, shattering the driver’s side window. The Camaro, owned by Donald Alexander Jr., was unoccupied and parked along a curb near the festival grounds.

Videos posted to the “Speak Up College Park” Facebook page appear to show Gay driving away from the scene following the incident. Multiple people in the video said they saw the collision.

The councilman did not return a text message from SaportaReport. He previously asked this reporter to stop phoning him regarding stories in which he is the subject.

The video footage aligns with what Alexander told SaportaReport: that friends witnessed the incident and flagged Gay down before he could get too far away, prompting him to return to the scene.

Alexander, who lives in Covington, said he came to the park to see the R&B group Brick perform and was at the carnival section when he received a call from his friends saying his car had been hit.

“I get over there, and it’s been torpedoed,” Alexander said. “I thought it would’ve been a minor rear-end hit.”

Alexander said he believes Gay was under the influence of alcohol at the time, though no breathalyzer test was administered or suggested. He shared those concerns in a letter to Mayor Bianca Motley Broom.

“I wouldn’t have been spared the scrutiny that Councilman Roderick Gay was afforded,” Alexander said he told the mayor.

Motley Broom confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment further for this story.

Alexander said he did not raise his concerns about possible alcohol involvement with the officer at the scene because he felt he was at a disadvantage. The police report does not mention alcohol and states that Gay admitted fault in the collision. It also lists the location as “private property,” a description that has drawn questions from residents.

College Park resident Julie McGuirk, who posted the two videos of the incident’s aftermath — one from police body camera footage and another sent to her anonymously — expressed concern about the accuracy of the police report, specifically about whether the event happened on public or private property.

Five former employees who were terminated last spring accused Gay of using threats to pressure city staff into carrying out certain actions. 

According to the police body camera from the Oct. 11 incident, the officer advised Gay that the Camaro was legally parked even as Gay claims that it should not have been parked along the curb. 

“But I ain’t tripping though,” Gay is heard saying in the footage. 

SaportaReport left phone messages with one of the two officers who responded to the incident.