Incident
| Date | Nov 01, 2006 |
| Department | Buffalo Police Department |
| Officers | Gregory M. Kwiatkowski , Cariol J. Horne , H Mccarthy Gipson |
| Address | Buffalo, NY |
Incident Description
In 2006, Officer Cariol Horne intervened to stop a fellow officer, Gregory Kwiatkowski, who was choking Neal Mack, a Black man who was already placed under arrest and handcuffed. Horne was assaulted by the officer during the intervention, and thereafter the Buffalo Police Department punished officer Cariol Horne by terminating her for attempting to stop the assault by her fellow officer upon a citizen —just one year shy of receiving her full pension.
In October 2020, Buffalo adopted "Cariol's Law," to require police to intervene if a fellow officer uses excessive force. In 2021, a New York court awarded her the pension and back pay she earned. The city has yet to pay Cariol her pension.
Links
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Exclusive: Fired Buffalo cop tells her side
Former Buffalo Police officer Cariol Horne in a battle to get her pension. She was fired for trying to stop a fellow officer she says was abusing a suspect. - WKBW
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Cariol's Law Website
Cariol's Law is a proposal for legislation to have a mandatory stature on police bystander intervention, provide protection from retaliation, require external investigation with mandated reprimanding for abuse or misconduct. - Cariol Horne
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Decision and Judgment in Favor of Horne
Quoting the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "the time is always right to do right". The City of Buffalo has recognized the error and has acknowledged the need to undo an injustice from the past. The legal system can at the very least be the mechanism to help justice prevail, even if belatedly. While the Eric Garners and George Floyds of the world never had a chance for a "do over", at least here the correction can be done. - Erie County Supreme Court