Shortly after news of the video’s existence broke late on the evening of May 16, top aides began discussing the situation. One of those aides was Ford’s logistics man and former high school football coach, David Price.
Also present during discussions were then chief of staff Mark Towhey and two other senior officials.
Price contacted Towhey late on May 17 and asked “hypothetically” what if someone had told him where the video was. “What would we do?” Towhey was asked.
This story is based on interviews with people close to the mayor’s circle and people in the northern Etobicoke community where the drug video was shot.
Towhey, a former military man and the most experienced official in Ford’s office, was alarmed at Price’s comments. Price went further and said, “What if a source has told me where the video might be found?”
Shocked, Towhey told Price that the only thing he would advise is going to the police. Price also said that the video may have been the reason that Anthony Smith, a person pictured in a photo with Ford, was killed.
Towhey’s response, according to sources, was to tell Price that he would be contacting police.
Towhey called police, and shortly before he went in to give a sworn statement on May 18, Price contacted him and passed on the apartment numbers and floor (17th) of a building in Rexdale where Price said his “sources” had told him the video might be found. Price did not identify his sources.
When Towhey went to the police he did not inform his boss, Mayor Ford. He gave a statement, identifying Price as the originator of this information. Price was later asked to give a statement.
The Star has been unable to reach Price but will continue to try and will pose questions to him regarding this matter.
Towhey refused to comment when reached by the Star.
The force assigned two homicide detectives to interview Towhey and carry out an investigation into his allegations.
Police have confirmed to the Star that this interview took place and the probe is continuing.
Toronto police have told the Star their investigation in this matter is not a homicide probe, but rather that they used homicide detectives because of their special expertise in conducting interviews.
Ford has not responded to written questions about this matter.
The discussions among Ford’s aides started as soon as the Star and the Gawker website published accounts detailing the video seen by two Star reporters and the editor of Gawker. The Star reporters have described seeing a video showing an incoherent and rambling Ford smoking what appears to be a crack pipe and making homophobic and racially charged statements. The reporters were shown the video by a man who said he shot it on an iPhone.
(The man who approached the Star with the video indicated there is more than one copy. The Star is not able to verify that.)
The reporters watched the video three times in a car parked near a Rexdale apartment complex.
That set off a chain reaction that has seen three top Ford officials, including Towhey, leave the mayor’s office. Towhey was fired; two communication officials, George Christopoulos and Isaac Ransom, resigned.
The incidents that led to Towhey’s firing started the morning after the late-evening reporting of the existence of the video that, to this day, Ford and his brother, Doug, say does not exist.
When Toronto woke up to news of the video, the media descended on Ford’s Etobicoke home. Towhey, a former military man, sent Price to Ford’s house to be of assistance. Soon after, Towhey was angered to discover that Price was at the home of Rob and Doug Ford’s mother.
Price told Towhey not to worry.
The day proceeded without much official discussion of the video. Mayor Ford called the allegations “ridiculous.” Both Ford brothers told Towhey that no video existed.
Later that day, Price sought out Towhey, his boss, and raised the “hypothetical” question: What if he knew where the video was, what would be done?
At one point, according to an account of the conversation, the straitlaced Towhey was heard to remark, “We’re not getting the f---ing thing!”
His concern was that, if a video existed, someone could be killed for it.
On the morning of May 21, there was a shooting on the same 17th floor of the apartment building that had been identified by Price. That non-fatal shooting is not under investigation by the homicide detectives who interviewed Towhey.
Towhey was fired last Thursday after urging Ford to seek help for his addiction problem.
Ford recently issued a blanket denial, saying on Newstalk 1010 “number one, there’s no video, so that’s all I can say.”
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Kevin, Robert Benzie
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