Mathis case handling, coverage botched

At 2 p.m. April 13, state Sen. Liz Mathis rammed her SUV into the rear of a stationary car on Kirkwood Boulevard, causing it to hit a third car that also was stopped (according to a Cedar Rapids police report). There was $20,000 damage to the vehicles and amazingly no personal injuries reported. To date there has been a media clampdown on publishing the facts of this case in either The Gazette or on television.

The IowaLive organization posted the accident report May 5.

Mathis said it was a billboard that distracted her. Seems like a perfectly reasonable excuse, so why all the secrecy?

Unfortunately, the police didn't perform a sobriety test. They also mysteriously did not issue a driving citation.

Buried in a May 18 Internet posting by Source Media Group's Jeff Raasch, police spokeswoman Cristy Hamblin honestly explained Officer Lucas Jones' failure to execute these normal police procedures as a matter of discretion. What! The result is Mathis will not appear in court.

Countering the obvious preferential treatment, Mathis stated in Raasch's posting that no one knew who she was at the accident. Jones must be living under a rock to not recognize past media celebrity Mathis.

For sure, this is not a shining example of quality police work and open transparency of an elected official.

Paul Tranter

Marion