In order to maintain transparency and address rumors circulating on social media implying improprieties, Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu issued a statement outlining the events and circumstances of an incident involving her son that occurred earlier this month.
In the one-page statement, Zoppo-Sassu writes, to avoid any conflict of interest, an investigation has been removed from the Bristol Police Department and handed over to the office of the State’s Attorney.
“I am confident that having the investigation transferred to an outside agency is the best action to take,” she writes.
The origin of the rumors have not been disclosed, but they have been fanned on social media.
“It is my belief that whisper campaigns often occur in the absence of truth and facts, as is the case with this situation,” Zoppo-Sassu writes.
She describes the attempt to use her child and the incident as “extremely distasteful,” especially for political purposes, and somewhat of a distraction when the city has made great progress in issues revolving around diversity and inclusion.
About the incident, that involves the vandalization of property and slurs, she writes, “I have zero tolerance for any incidents of property defacement with messages aimed at certain segments of our community. More change is needed and I am committed to ensuring that happens.”
The incident revolves around several school buses that were vandalized at Chippens Hill Middle School and West Bristol School.
According to her statement, Zoppo-Sassu’s son and some friends saw images of the vandalization on Snapchat and drove over to see the busses.
The boys’ presence was reported to the police by a dog walker who saw them there and wrote down the license plates to their vehicles.
“At that point,” Zoppo-Sassu writes, “the vandalism had yet to be reported, so an investigation commenced. The boys who were there that morning acknowledge that they used poor judgement in going to look at the vandalism and await the opportunity to tell their story to investigators.”
Zoppo-Sassu, whose husband is an officer with the Bristol Police Dept., reiterated that it has been and will always be her policy to take a hands-off approach with department affairs, especially when it comes to on-going investigations.
“One of the earliest basic tenets of understanding between [Police} Chief [Brian] Gould and myself is non-interference in criminal investigations by my Administration,” she writes.
“In no way would there ever be any engagement or discussion between the Police Chief and myself, contrary to what has been presented on social media,” she writes in the second to last paragraph.
Click here (or the link in the first paragraph) to see the entire statement.