Mayor Jon Mitchell urges Shawn Oliver to explain the Oct. 17 crash publicly

NEW BEDFORD New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said Wednesday that Ward 3 City Councilor Shawn Oliver should tell the public what happened the night of the Oct. 17 crash that led to his arrest on an OUI charge, even if his lawyer is advising him to stay quiet. Mitchell spoke during his weekly appearance on WBSM with host Chris McCarthy, the station reported.

"I will say that the longer he waits to offer a statement, it would raise a question of whether he's being candid with the public," Mitchell said, according to WBSM. "And so I would urge him to tell us what really happened."

What the mayor said

"I'm sure his criminal defense attorney is saying don't say anything, honestly," Mitchell said. "I understand why a defense attorney would tell a client that, concerning his interests as a defendant, but he's also a city councilor." He added, "And the longer he waits, I think the more credibility he loses."

Mitchell did not call for Oliver to resign. Oliver told police after the crash that he was "burning both ends of the wick," according to the police reports, and Mitchell said much the same of the councilor's schedule. "I don't say this as a defense, or an excuse for him, but he was indeed burning the candle at both ends," Mitchell said. "He was working his regular job as a corrections officer, he was running for statewide office, and he's also a city councilor."

"We wouldn't call for the resignation of somebody who fell asleep at the wheel. Even if that person had just a mere drink, it doesn't mean he's drunk," Mitchell said. "So I want to see evidence before I say anything definitively about that." He said the Boston coverage of the case is not, by itself, a reason to take a side. "That isn't a reason alone to come down in a particular place on this matter one way or the other," he said.

The mayor made the same point in a statement on Oct. 18, the morning after the crash, which WCVB and WBSM published: "The allegations against Councilor Oliver are deeply concerning, and the public deserves to hear his explanation of what happened."

Oliver's side

Oliver has not spoken publicly about the crash itself. In a statement Oct. 18 suspending his campaign for lieutenant governor, as WCVB published it, he said the election "is too important to be overshadowed by personal matters" and asked that his family's privacy be respected. After a Finance Committee meeting Oct. 19, he told an NBC 10 News reporter, "I have no comment at this time." When WBSM reached him by text message last week, he declined to comment on Choquette's call for him to resign, the station reported.

He has kept working on the council. City Council President Ryan Pereira said on WBSM on Monday that Oliver had been at all four council and committee meetings since the crash, including the Audit Committee meeting he chaired Oct. 21. South Coast 360 invited Oliver by email on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to answer questions in his own words, and he had not replied as of Wednesday evening.

The resignation calls

Former Mayor Scott Lang said on WBSM on Oct. 22 that Oliver should resign, and Ward 1 Councilor Leo Choquette asked him to step down in a written statement that evening. Choquette wrote that putting the other councilors through "a gauntlet of reporters, protestors, and national scrutiny is wholly unnecessary and counterproductive for the 100,000 residents who expect professional representation co-equal to that of the Office of the Mayor."

Pereira answered Choquette during his own weekly WBSM appearance on Monday, Oct. 26, the station reported. "So it being a distraction, I think, is a poor excuse," Pereira said. "And if you can't handle it, then at that point, maybe you should be the one to resign." He pointed to the protests and cameras over Mitchell's planned closing of Fire Station 9 in Choquette's ward and said, "Councilor Choquette was all in favor of protests and cameras then."

Pereira said a resignation would mean a special election for Ward 3 that would take months to arrange and cost the city about $30,000, and the winner would have to run again in November 2027. "It's a logistical challenge and a costly challenge, but it is the right thing to do if we have a resignation," he said. He also said he had not received calls asking for Oliver to resign.

The court case

New Bedford police charged Oliver with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, a marked lanes violation and speeding, court records show. His SUV was going an estimated 50 mph in a 30 mph zone on Dartmouth Street when it hit vehicles parked along the street and flipped onto its roof, according to police reports, which say five parked vehicles were involved in all. An officer wrote that Oliver said he had at least two alcoholic beverages earlier that night, and he refused an evidentiary blood draw at the hospital, the reports say.

He was arraigned Oct. 19 in New Bedford District Court, where a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf, WCVB and CBS News Boston reported, and the case was transferred to Fall River District Court on Oct. 20, the docket shows. Oliver is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Related: Councilor Leo Choquette asks Shawn Oliver to resign from the New Bedford City Council; Police reports: Oliver estimated at 50 mph in a 30 zone before crash, refused blood test; Shawn Oliver's OUI case moves to Fall River District Court

What happens next

Oliver's name stays on the Nov. 3 ballot for lieutenant governor, because the deadline to withdraw passed Sept. 4. Before the transfer, the New Bedford docket listed a pretrial date of Nov. 16, and the transfer entry does not say whether that date stands.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.