Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s collision with the driver of another vehicle over the weekend has drawn attention to a previous conviction she received in traffic court for a red-light violation, and raised questions about whether she or the driver of the other car was responsible for running the red light.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Quan was convicted in February of this year for running a red light on April 10, 2013. Court records show that the 64-year-old Quan was photographed committing the violation at 6:51 pm at Newark Boulevard and Jarvis Avenue in Newark, California.
On Sunday, Mayor Quan was driving between two church events in the same city-issued Lexus SUV she was in when last year’s violation occurred, when her car was hit by the 36-year-old driver of a Nissan, Lakisha Renee Lovely.
A witness to the crash said she saw Quan looking down as she passed through the red light, but could not confirm whether or not she was using her phone.
Quan’s spokesman Sean Maher denied her use of her mobile device on Sunday and Quan herself deferred the question of who had the right-of-way to the Oakland police, according to the Chronicle.
Mayor Quan’s driving has come under scrutiny this week as a result of Sunday’s incident coupled with images that surfaced via social media last week which show her texting while driving and holding a cell phone up to her ear while driving.
DMV records show that the driver of the other vehicle, Lovely, has a clean driving record.
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