Incident
| Date | Oct 31, 2021 |
| Time | 12:42 PM |
| Department | Buffalo Police Department |
| Officers | Justin A. Ayala , Daniel Carlson , Patrick Kinsella , Matthew Serafini , Stephen R. Lesniak , Eric M. Hofschneider |
| Address |
Newfield Street
Buffalo, NY |
Incident Description
On October 31st, 2021, at approximately 12:42 a.m., in front of his friend’s home on Newfield Street, Andy Ocasio was filming an arrest taking place at that location.
Buffalo police officers Justin A Ayala, Daniel Carlson, Patrick Kinsella, Matthew Serafini, and Stephen Lesniak arrived on the scene and exited their police vehicle, grabbed Ocasio, and shoved him to the ground.
The police officers then beat Ocasio while he was on the ground, including sudden, violent kicks to the head, stomping on his head, and kneeing him and kneeling on his back, choking him, and spraying him with mace, and causing him to suffer serious injuries. None of the officers intervened. Lieutenant Erie Hofschnider, was the supervisor present at the scene of the incident during the assault, and also failed to interved.
While in police custody, Ocasio sustained serious injuries, including, facial trauma; significant hematoma of right eye; blurry vision of right eye; closed head injury; headaches; neck pain; and a laceration to his right cheek.
Links
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Ocasio v. City of Buffalo (1:23-cv-00157)
Civil complaint against the City of Buffalo and the officers involved - Western District of New York | CourtListener
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Referral of Police Officer Justin Ayala OAG Matter No. 1-793388847
The BPD investigation concluded that the strikes by Officer Ayala and the knee strikes by Officer Serafini were reasonable, and both officers were exonerated. We find that Officer Ayala’s head strikes violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Article I, § 12 of the New York State Constitution, and the Department’s Use of Force policy. We find that Officer Ayala committed misconduct during this incident. OAG has serious concerns about the knee strikes administered by Officer Serafini. - New York State Office of the Attorney General
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Another Buffalo cop cited for misconduct
The AG’s office reviewed 14 complaints made against Officer Justin Ayala between October 2021 and August of last year. The findings were based on five incidents, including his punching of a man while held down by other officers, pepper-spraying a handcuffed suspect, and use of vile language on a teen-age girl and her mother. The AG’s office made five recommendations for Ayala and requires a response from the police department by September 18th, 2025. - Adam Smith-Perez | Investigative Post