The mayor fired back at an order from the Secretary of State’s office compelling the City of Boston to release records around what her office described as the “pathetic and baseless” rumored ambulance calls made to her Roslindale home.

The city has released two sets of police dispatch reports in response to a Herald public records request, which show numerous instances of police presence at Mayor Michelle Wu’s Augustus Avenue address, but while the incidents list the times and dates of each call, the nature of the response is not explicitly provided.

In addition to each documented instance of police presence being listed as “default,” in lieu of providing a description such as it being medical or crime-related in nature as is typical with police logs, the records provided don’t include EMS or ambulance calls, which was requested by Herald columnist Howie Carr in October 2022.

Following an appeal by the columnist, the Secretary of State’s office sent a letter to Shawn Williams, the city’s director of public records, Wednesday compelling the city to release the responsive records within 10 business days.

“The public records law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records,” Manza Arthur, the state’s supervisor of records, wrote in the letter.

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office indicated that anyone waiting for EMS records shouldn’t hold their breath, however, calling the rumors that sparked the request “pathetic.”

“This is another pathetic and baseless rumor from the conspiracy theory crew longing for 1970s Boston,” said Wu spokesperson Ricardo Patrón. “The mayor isn’t leaving for Harvard and has never been transported by ambulance for health reasons during her tenure as mayor or at any other time in her life.”

In an interview with the Globe last year, the mayor debunked rumors, which the report attributed to her “right-wing” critics as an attempt to undermine her, that she was suffering from panic attacks or anxiety.

Wu spoke about her mother’s mental health struggles in an op-ed she penned for the publication during her time as a city councilor.

In September, the mayor dismissed a rumor that she was considering leaving the corner office for a job at Harvard University, telling the Herald that there was “absolutely no chance” she would leave for any other organization or level of government.

Related Articles

Boston City Council, Mayor Wu exploring cash payments to low-income families

Lawmaker: Why not a ferry instead of Long Island bridge?

City Council looks to make it easier to become a street vendor

Boston donates 2,000 turkeys to needy families for Thanksgiving

Enrique Pepén broke state law by promoting fundraiser on personal social media account: OCPF

Arthur’s letter states that records provided to the Herald do not include EMS information, and that the city had stated that since those records are under the purview of the Boston Public Health Commission, a separate request needed to be made directly to that office.

“If the city does possess additional responsive records, it must either provide the records, or cite an exemption to the public records law, and explain with specificity how such an exemption applies to withhold or redact the records,” Arthur wrote.

There is no intention to release that information, Patrón said, citing HIPAA privacy laws.

“The City of Boston is legally obligated to protect health records under health privacy laws, and it is our standard procedure that Boston EMS does not release ambulance or health records for any resident of Boston,” Patrón said. “We will continue to abide by that legal privacy protection for all residents.

The city’s public records director sent a formal response letter to the Herald columnist Wednesday night, to the same effect.

Boston Police Sgt. Detective John Boyle said the call logs released by the department simply point to the mayor’s regular security detail. The records do not include EMS calls, he said, which are not handled by the police department.

In the CAD logs, the “type” of call is listed as a Code, 9, Code 19 or Code 19F, which indicates that an officer was tasked with taking on that duty, which consists of having a department car in front of the mayor’s house, Boyle told the Herald.

Boyle also referenced the “subtype” listed as default on the call logs, saying that a description would only be included if there were additional details needed for the type of incident, such as there being injuries associated with a motor vehicle crash.

“There’s subtypes for all sorts of things, but a Code 19 doesn’t have subtypes,” Boyle said. “That’s why it says default. It’s not hiding anything.”