While on-scene at an accident she denies being involved in , Bradenton police chief Melanie Bevan influenced an investigation conducted by the agency she oversees and also affected the contents of the subsequent report, according to her deposition in a lawsuit.
Meanwhile, former Bradenton Police Department officer Mitchell Lunder, who authored the report but did not include Bevan’s name in it, said in text messages obtained by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that he was instructed what to write about the accident.
And former assistant police chief Josh Cramer – who was present at the scene of the accident – said in a deposition the reason a report was written was “more to cover the city,” an indication he was concerned Bevan might be held responsible despite her insistence that an accident never took place…