TORONTO

Mayor Rob Ford's part-time driver told a friend that he and another man tried unsuccessfully to recover a video allegedly showing the mayor smoking crack, that friend told the Toronto Sun in an exclusive interview Thursday.

Alexander "Sandro" Lisi was arrested Tuesday in Etobicoke on marijuana charges along with another man.

"He didn't go into detail (on who asked him to obtain the crack video)," Lisi's friend told the Sun outside the Toronto Jail.

The 23-year-old man, who asked for anonymity because he said he is facing charges and trying to rebuild his life, quoted Lisi as telling him: "Yeah, they're (police) investigating me because I'm one of the guys trying to retrieve the video. We are trying to get our hands on it. But it was all dead ends. The video doesn't exist because we couldn't get our hands on it."

Lisi, 35, also told him the gash on his cheek was a result of a police officer punching him during the arrest.

The Toronto Star has previously reported that Lisi and Dave Price were the two men who tried to track down the video allegedly showing Ford smoking crack. The Star also reported that Ford pinpointed a location to his closest staffers where the video might be found.

Ford has denied the existence of the video and refused to comment on it.

After being freed on bail Wednesday, Lisi refused to answer any questions by media outside the courthouse.

The friend also said Lisi attended the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee event last March where 2010 mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson alleged Ford grabbed her buttocks and propositioned her. She also speculated that Ford had "substance abuse" issues.

The friend said Lisi saw nothing inappropriate happen between Thomson and his pal Ford during the photo op. The next day, Lisi said he and Ford were dumbfounded by Thomson's startling allegations. She offered to take a lie-detector test to prove her claim was truthful.

"Lisi told me about the JPAC event, the one with Sarah Thomson. That was totally fabricated," the friend said.

"Sandro was there. This storm happened the next day. Ford and Lisi were scratching their heads. How are we going to recover from this public meltdown?" the friend said.

Thomson alleged that Ford told her during the event that she should have been in Florida with him because his wife wasn't there.

"I just kind of fluffed it off and then we posed for a picture and he grabbed my ass and I said OK this is not Rob," Thomson said at the time. "I thought there was something really wrong with him."