Man Says Bell Gardens Mayor Tried to Run Him Over in SUV

The morass of political scandals and investigations engulfing Bell Gardens City Hall these days got even stickier Wednesday.

One day after prosecutors filed a conflict-of-interest charge against City Manager Maria Chacon, police opened an investigation into a late-night confrontation between the mayor and a former council member.

The former councilman, Rogelio Rodriguez, says Mayor Ramiro Morales tried to run him over in the City Hall parking lot. Morales denies the charge, saying Rodriguez was the aggressor and tried to break his side-view mirror.

The incident heightened tensions in the blue-collar city already awash in political intrigue since Chacon became the target of a corruption investigation. The Chacon case has divided the city, with some residents appearing regularly at raucous council meetings to demand her ouster.

Rodriguez is among Chacon’s fiercest critics; Morales is a strong supporter. Their political differences apparently spilled outside City Hall on Tuesday night as Rodriguez and others watched Chacon being interviewed by a Spanish-language television crew.

According to the account by Rodriguez and his supporters, Morales approached in his sport utility vehicle and turned on the high beams. After he gunned the engine, the vehicle suddenly bolted forward, forcing Rodriguez to fend it off with his arm, they said. The impact was so strong, they said, that the side-view mirror was torn from the car.

“The mayor tried to run over me. He just hit me and kept going,” said Rodriguez, who added that he suffered bruises to his arm and shoulder.

But Morales said he was merely trying to leave the parking lot when the group tried to block his way. Rodriguez, he said, punched out his side-view mirror. He called the accusations farfetched.

“I’m an elected official,” said Morales. “Would I do something like that in front of the police station, with a television crew there? Are you kidding?”

Police hoped that the dispute would be resolved quickly by viewing videotape from the crew interviewing Chacon. But crew members were apparently so busy that they didn’t turn the cameras on the drama unfolding nearby.

Police Chief Manuel Ortega said the investigation is continuing.