Buffalo Police sit in their cars looking around clueless while a pair of armed white supremacists block traffic shouting racial slurs.

CW: Lieutenant Michael DeLong, was suspended after being videotaped directing a vile, misogynist insult at a woman outside a convenience store. DeLong called the woman a “disrespectful little fucking cunt” when she questioned how police were handling a man in distress outside the store who has a history of drug and mental health issues. The woman taking the video was upset about the size of the police response to the scene. DeLong was suspended the day after the June 28 incident for 30 days without pay for his insult, then, under state law, was returned to the payroll while remaining under suspension. He was paid about $63,000 while awaiting an arbitration hearing in which the city was expected to ask that DeLong be further disciplined or fired.

On June 24th, 2020, a handful of people were gathered at Niagara Square as part of a multi-day peaceful protest in response to police brutality. While exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble, Buffalo police officers arrived at Niagara Square around 2:00 am and began unlawfully arresting the protestors.

Outcome

Each protestor was charged with violations of two City of Buffalo ordinances, laws or regulations, section 309-15[A], sleeping in "any park or park approach," and 309-25[A], remaining in a park, playground, or public school ground beyond open hours, a non-criminal offense punishable as a "Class C fine in the amount of $52.50."

Niagara Square is neither a "park," "park approach," "playground," nor a "public school ground" as defined in the Buffalo City Code, such that the sections 309-15[A] and 309-25[A] would apply to the protestors and prohibit their otherwise protected right of assembly at Niagara Square. Subsequently, in Buffalo City Court, all charges were dismissed for facial insufficiency.

The case was settled for $31,5000.

According to Buffalo News, forty-seven out of fifty-seven arrests made during George Floyd / BLM protests in the summer of 2020 were either dismissed or "given adjournments" and were considered for dismissal. Very few went all the way through court proceedings.

The Buffalo Police Commissioner suspended Robert Marth, a man who worked as police dispatcher. The suspension came after Marth made the following comments on FaceBook: "Enough is enough !!! What is going on is uncalled for.. FUCKEN WILD ANIMALS ... and what do you do to an animal that's rabid out of control you take it out !! Mayor stop being a patsy to these fucks and give the order !!! Allow the officers to shoot to kill!!"

CW: While at a Black Lives Matter protest, 75-year old peace activist Martin Gugino approached a line of riot police stopping in front of the them to talk, one officer yelled “push him back”; one officer pushed his arm into Gugino’s chest, while another extended his baton toward him with both hands. Gugino feel backward, with blood immediately leaking from his right ear. An officer leaned down to examine him, but another officer then pulled the first officer away. Several other officers walked by Gugino, motionless on the ground, without checking on him.

Outcome

The two officers were immediately suspended by Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood. An Internal Affairs investigation was completed. The District Attorney's office of John Flynn charged the two officers that pushed Gugino with felony assault. However, a grand jury chose not to indict. Martin is continuing to litigate a civil suit against the City of Buffalo.

Myles Carter, a young Black man, was tackled from behind by Buffalo police and arrested while he was being interviewed by the news media on Bailey Avenue during a protest. The trumped up charges that followed included second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, a misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, a violation. The charges were later dropped.

Buffalo Police and National Guard swarm in to beat and arrest some people. After firing tear gas and obstructing the view, they then run away as an SUV drives through them and hits at least one officer.

During a protest in support of Black Lives Matter on May 30th, 2020 thousands of Buffalo residents gathered at Niagara square against the persistent police violence and brutality both locally and across the county. In reaction to the righteous anger and residents expressing their first amendment rights, United States Marshals, Homeland Security Investigation Officers, Immigration Customs Enforcements Officers, Federal Protective Service Officers, New York State Police Officers, Amherst Police Officers, and Buffalo Police Officers lined up along the Federal Courthouse in head to toe riot gear standing shoulder to shoulder along the courthouse steps. Police shot "less lethal" rounds, tear gas, and mace at protesters.

At approximately 6:45 PM a protestor who was 18 years old at the time threw a water bottle at one of the officers in the face who was protected by riot gear, including a helmet with a shield. After a week of protests, a United States Marshal obtained body cam footage from Buffalo Police. Screen shots from the footage were provided to the Erie Crime Analysis Center. Those images were then run through facial recognition databases which identified the individual who threw the water bottle. A deputy United States Marshal then found the protester on social media and made the erroneous determination that because he had images of himself with a blue jacket and shoes he was associated with the Crips gang. The deputy also surveilled the protestors house and observed him enter and exit his house wearing the same backpack he wore during the May 30th protest.

Based this alleged act during the protest and the associated alleged evidence, a criminal complaint was filed against the protester for violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1), for knowingly and forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating or interfering with a person designated in Title 18, United States Code, Section 1114 while engaged in on account of the performance of official duties and such acts involved physical contact with the victim.

The protestor pled guilty to a one count Misdemeanor Information charging the above violation. The protester served 7 months in custody and 1 year probation. He was also required to mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, drug testing, and domestic violence program. Four month into supervised release, probation petitioned the District court for additional conditions of supervision. One of those conditions was electronic monitoring with a curfew of 8:00 PM. The protestor had to cover the cost for such monitoring and for the other treatment programs. The final condition imposed was the requirement to go to a halfway house for two month and obey the rules and regulations of the halfway house.

Police fired pepper balls at freelance photographer Andrew Jasiura and an officer tried to grab his camera while he was reporting on protests in Buffalo, New York, on May 30, 2020.

Police began to attempt to clear the square by firing nonlethal projectiles and advancing in a line. One officer asked Jasiura why he was taking pictures, and Jasiura said he pointed to his bright yellow vest that said “PRESS” in English and Cantonese (Jasiura had previously covered demonstrations in Hong Kong).

The photographer subsequently tried to come to the aid of a black man who had been hit with mace and pepper balls. “He was just pouring mucus out of his face, out of his nose, his mouth, his eyes. His whole face was red,” Jasiura said. Jasiura tried to wash the protester’s eyes out with saline spray, at which point officers shot pepper balls at him, even though his press vest was clearly visible.

On May 30, 2020, two peaceful protesters were forcibly shoved and assaulted by the Emergency Response Team(ERT) while they were standing with raised firsts in Niagara Square. In an interview, one protester reported that she suffered a fractured rib and a welt as a result of being assaulted by members of the ERT.

CW: Quentin Suttles sustained serious personal injuries when Buffalo Police Officers used excessive force and brutally beat Mr. Suttles after pulling him over and arresting him.

Officer Kevin Murphy arrested Lakisha Neal, 42, on March 25, 2020. Body camera footage shows Murphy grabbing Neal, cursing and twice spraying her with pepper spray while other officers do nothing to intervene other than telling Neal to cooperate.

“Get in the car or get sprayed!” Murphy demands after grabbing Neal by the arm and forcing her to a patrol car. Murphy deploys pepper spray after Neal says she’s pregnant.

“Will y’all listen to me?” Neal asked seconds before Murphy sprayed her. As tears from the first spraying run down Neal’s face, Murphy sprayed again after Neal tells him that she can’t breathe.

Neal was arrested and charged with making a false report, obstruction, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest.

Outcome

All charges against Neal were dismissed.

Former Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood fired Murphy.

An arbitrator upheld the Buffalo Police Department's firing of Murphy for excessive force and falsely stating that Neal had admitted telling a dispatcher that a gun was at the address. The arbitrator found that Murphy knew that Neal didn’t have a gun and that he’d failed to use de-escalation techniques.

However, the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association asked the arbitrator to overturn the decision reached after Murphy collected more than $276,000 in salary from the city while his disciplinary case was pending. Erie County Supreme Court documents dating to 2013 show no other cases of either the city or the police union asking a judge to reverse an arbitrator’s decision on whether an officer should be fired.

The union during arbitration proceedings argued that Murphy didn't use excessive force and did not deserve termination. The union maintained, Officers aren’t prohibited from handcuffing or deploying pepper spray on pregnant women and Murphy testified that women seeking leniency sometimes lie about being pregnant, according to arbitration records filed by the union in the lawsuit.

Supreme Court Judge Amy Martoche threw out the arbitrator’s decision upholding the termination of a Buffalo Police Officer Kevin Murphy fired. Judge Martoche ruled in her August 20, 2024 decision that arbitrator Jeffrey Selchick improperly failed to consider testimony from three witnesses, including Officer Allan May, who teaches use of force techniques at the department’s training academy, retired Lt. Michael Alberti, who worked in internal affairs, and former Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood.

Lockwood during an arbitration proceeding claimed that Neal’s verbal resistance to Murphy justified the officer physically removing her from a porch, union lawyer Rodney Personius wrote in a brief urging Martoche to overturn the arbitrator’s decision that upheld the firing. Lockwood also acknowledged that Neal continued resisting Murphy, even after she was pepper-sprayed, Personius wrote.

The city could put Murphy back on the force or, alternatively, ask the Fourth Appellate Division to overturn Martoche’s decision, or attempt to hold a new arbitration proceeding on the same issues.

On the night of December 29, 2019 Buffalo Police Officers Mitchell J. Thomas II and Mitchell R. Thomas initiated a traffic stop. William Fugate was a passenger in the backseat of the vehicle. According to prosecutors, Fugate tried to flee from the vehicle. They also claim that while Fugate was running away, he pointed a gun at the officers.

The officers fired their guns at Fugate and struck him four times. Fugate was found a short time later hiding in a backyard. He was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of the gunshot wounds to the side of his body.

Prosecutors claim a "loaded, illegal pistol" was found in Fugate's "flight path." However, Fugate disputeed the police version of events.

Outcome

No charges were filed against the officers.

While media reports said that Fugate pled guilty to a weapons possession charge, there are no court records that confirm this. Fugate did plead guilty to a possession with intent to distribute charge in 2021 after prosecutors claim a warrant was executed at a residence that Fugate was present at and 13 ounces of methamphetamine were found in a locked safe.

On December 7, 2019 at approximately 12:21 a.m. Buffalo Police Officer Andrew Whiteford in coordination with Officer Charles Miller planted cocaine in Cheryl Stephens's car to create the premise for her false arrest.

Outcome

The City of Buffalo settled a civil case for damages for $65,000. No known disciplinary actions against the officers have been taken.

Buffalo Officers Kyle T Moriarity and Christopher Bridgett attacked, assaulted, and seized Dean Taylor, a Black man, without just cause or provocation, while he stood on a street corner taking a video of police activity down the street. Moriarity and Bridgett struck Taylor numerous times, dragged him to a police vehicle and handcuffed him behind his back.

Police pulled over Bruce McNeil, a city resident, in May 2019 for a vehicle violation. The officers searched McNeil’s car, found nothing, and let him go without even a ticket for the license plate bulb they claimed was not working.

McNeil was mad about the stop. He believed his civil rights were violated, that they had no right or reason to search his car. And he found damage on the hood that he said police caused during the search.

McNeil went to file a complaint against the officers with Internal Affairs and he alleged in a civil lawsuit that a lieutenant on duty refused to accept his complaint and threatened to arrest him for possession of drugs if he did not leave.

McNeil left, but came back to the police station, this time with his mother, who demanded that he get a complaint filed. Police then arrested him on charges of possession of crack cocaine. The two officers alleged in the police report that they found the crack cocaine after a sweep of the police vehicle in the vicinity of where McNeil sat.

A judge did not believe the story. McNeil was acquitted by a bench trial and is now suing the city and the police officers for wrongful arrest.

Around 2:40 a.m. on April 7, 2019, four Buffalo residents returned from Tim Horton’s and parked in one the resident's driveway. As they prepared to exit the vehicle, Buffalo Police Officers John Davidson and Patrick Garry approached in a patrol car. Without explanation the officers aggressively ordered them back into the car, issuing threats of lethal violence. Officer Garry said, “Get the fuck back into the vehicle,” and “Don’t move or I’ll end all of you right now, and put all of your brains over the dashboard.”

Two of the Buffalo residents explained to the officers that they had pre-existing leg injuries, but the officers proceeded to assault and repeatedly slam the vehicle doors on their legs, despite their protests. Officer Garry also punched one of the residents. The residents were then unlawfully detained, searched, and harassed, with no legal justification.

Officers placed the residents in a patrol car, searched the vehicle without cause, and emptied an unopened bottle of Hennessy. They also threatened nearby residents who attempted to record the encounter. Further misconduct included throwing one of the residents to the ground, stealing $300, and taking a cell phone.

When the residents asked the officers’ names to file a complaint, the officers refused, provided false information about their precinct, and continued their unlawful actions.

Outcome

A civil suit was brought against the City of Buffalo and both Buffalo Police officers. A settlement was reached for two of the plaintiffs for $5,001 each in 2021. Settlement was reached for $15,000 and $20,000 for the other two plaintiffs in 2024. The total amount that city was required to pay out to plaintiffs as a result of police brutality in this case was $45,002. There was no known disciplinary action taken against the officers.

Buffalo Police officers forcibly removed from a vehicle and mercilessly beat Robert Closs, a 78 year old man who was well known to the Buffalo Police Department as a citizen with mental health problems. Closs died approximately three weeks later from blunt force trauma caused by the brutality.

Police say security from the Wegmans on Amherst Street reported a shoplifter at 11:20 p.m. An on-duty lieutenant who happened to be in the store was informed the suspect had ran.

Approximately eight minutes later, officers located the suspect, 47-year-old Marcus Neal, across the street. They chased Neal on foot to Gladstone Street. Police said Neal ran into a yard and climbed up onto a flat-roof garage. Multiple officers pursued him up there. According to police, once up there, he produced a knife but refused multiple requests to drop it. They claim that Neal then charged the officers with the knife, and one of the officers opened fire, striking him.

Neal’s family disputes the conclusion that nothing could have been done to spare his life and questions whether the events of that freezing night unfolded exactly as police have said.

Neal was transported to Erie County Medical Center and immediately put into surgery. He later died from his injuries.

Outcome

Because of the presence of an alleged knife, Neal’s death was not investigated by the New York State Attorney General, which, under Executive Order No. 147 acts as a special prosecutor in deaths of unarmed citizens by police.

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office did investigate. Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said that the shooting was justified. No charges were filed against the officer.

CW: In response to a 911 call of a man with a gun at about 3:05 a.m, Buffalo Police officer Elmur Karadzhayev shot and killed Rafael “Pito” Rivera as he was running away. Karadzhayev was placed on administrative leave. Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced that there would be no charges filed against Karadzhayev after a nearly three-month investigation. The family of Pito filed a civil lawsuit. The City of Buffalo, the Buffalo Police Department, Officer Karadzhayev, and an unknown officer were all named as defendants in the lawsuit.