ROB GILLIES
Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford “appeared intoxicated” and invited an unidentified woman into his office for an hour when City Hall was closed for a public holiday just days before he entered rehab, according to a security report released Friday.
The City Hall report, released Friday after a freedom of information request, said Ford was “slurring his words, red in the face, and sweating profusely” when he asked a security guard to “bring her up” just before 8 p.m. on April 21, Easter Monday. The report said the woman left Ford’s office after an hour.
Ford remains in rehab for alcohol addiction after announcing in April that he was seeking treatment after another video surfaced that apparently showed him smoking crack.
Ford admitted last year after reports of a similar video that he had smoked crack in a “drunken stupor,” following months of denials. That was just one of many public incidents of bad behavior that led the City Council to strip him of most of his powers. The mayor had become an international sensation, with late-night TV comedians in the U.S. repeatedly skewering him.
The City Hall security report from April 21 said that Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother and a city councilor, arrived later at City Hall and escorted his brother and a different security guard to the parking garage.
“The mayor can be seen stumbling and even falling on the ground before being seated in the vehicle,” the report states. Security footage shows Doug Ford in the driver’s seat.
Doug Ford didn’t return messages seeking comment.
The Globe and Mail newspaper reported in late April that it viewed a second video of Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine in his sister’s basement days before he entered rehab. The Toronto Sun said that it had obtained an audio recording of Ford making offensive remarks about other politicians at a bar a few nights later.
Ford has not abandoned his bid to seek a second term in October elections. His decision to seek treatment comes months after he announced he was finished with alcohol — only to have steady reports of more intoxicated behavior emerge.
Doug Ford has said he expects his brother to return to the campaign by June 30.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
