ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis alderman said Wednesday that he turned down an offer from the city’s police chief to void a ticket issued against him during a traffic stop last month.
The alderman, Joe Vaccaro, said his exchange with Chief John Hayden came during a telephone discussion Feb. 10 after he was stopped earlier that day for speeding on Interstate 44 near Jefferson Avenue.
Vaccaro said in an interview that the point of his call wasn’t to try to get a ticket canceled but to complain about the failure of the officer involved to wear a mask.
Vaccaro said because the officer was coughing as he talked to Vaccaro through Vaccaro’s rolled-down truck window, Vaccaro feared he might become exposed to COVID-19.
“My only complaint was the (lack of a) mask and him being rude,†Vaccaro said of the officer.
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Vaccaro said he had told the officer during the stop that he would call Hayden and the assistant chief, Lt. Col. Lawrence O’Toole, about his failure to use a mask.
Vaccaro said he believes he also told the officer he was an alderman driving to a meeting at City Hall but isn’t sure. In any event, he said, he didn’t try to use his position to get out of a ticket.
“That’s absolutely 100% not true,†Vaccaro said.
A police department spokeswoman, Evita Caldwell, declined to comment Wednesday on Vaccaro’s assertion that Hayden had offered “to take care of†a ticket.
Caldwell said only that she could confirm that Vaccaro was stopped on Feb. 10 and that a ticket to Vaccaro was not voided. A spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Nick Dunne, said it’s “a police matter.â€
Vaccaro said he actually was issued two tickets, one for driving 76 mph in a 60 mph zone and another for failing to show an auto insurance card. He said he assumed that Hayden was referring to both tickets.
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Vaccaro, of the 23rd Ward, chairs the aldermanic Public Safety Committee, which often handles legislation dealing with police issues. Vaccaro’s son is a city police homicide detective, and his daughter is a 911 dispatcher for the department.
Vaccaro said after his conversation with Hayden, the officer, at Vaccaro’s request, was given an initial COVID test, and the department reported back that the officer tested positive.
A few days later, Vaccaro said, the department informed him that the officer tested negative on a follow-up test. Vaccaro said he tested negative himself.
Vaccaro said the officer was rude in his handling of the proof-of-insurance issue. He said when the officer first approached him, he asked him for his driver’s license, registration and the insurance card.
Vaccaro said he initially couldn’t find the card but did locate it and showed it when the officer returned with the tickets. Instead of dropping that ticket, the alderman said the officer told him “to show it in court†and try to get the ticket thrown out then.
Caldwell, the police spokeswoman, said the department has no policy or procedure to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 specifically related to traffic stops. The city since last fall has required police and other city employees to get fully vaccinated against COVID or tested weekly.
Originally posted at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 2.