James Kistner was having breakfast with his sons at his Buffalo East Side home on New Year’s Day 2017 when he noticed police at his apartment across the street.

They finished breakfast before Kistner walked outside to find out what might have caused the police presence at the apartment on Schmarbeck Avenue.

Kistner walks a few feet toward a second police cruiser that begins to back up. He gets within a foot and he throws out his arms to brace for what was about to happen: the cruiser runs into him, forcibly knocking him to the ground. No one moves. None of the officers run to check on Kistner. More than 15 seconds pass before officers get out and walk toward Kistner, who is lying on the ground yelling at his son to call 911.

Earl, Kistner’s son, runs over, sees that his dad is on the ground with his legs pushed out between the two wheels of the left side of the SUV and then walks back to the sidewalk to call 911.

Not only was Kistner struck by a police SUV and injured, but officers surrounding Kistner’s son while he called 911, shoved him around and took his phone. Police cancelled the ambulance call. An officer picks up Kistner off the ground, they cuff him and detain him in the second police cruiser that returned to the scene. Police charged Kistner with felony criminal mischief and a disorderly conduct violation.

Officers transported Kistner to ECMC, where they chained him to a gurney, and left to speak with medical staff. The officers tried to get Kistner admitted in the psych ward at ECMC, claiming he attacked the police cruiser. Kistner said the nurse told him that the officers claimed he jumped onto the police cruiser. ECMC did not admit Kistner, so police brought him to central booking where he was fingerprinted, searched and photographed. He was charged with felony criminal mischief in the third degree for the damage to the mirror and disorderly conduct.

Kistner thought he would get an appearance ticket for some violation, but the officers would eventually bring him back to ECMC to try to get him admitted a second time. Kistner again denied to a doctor that he attacked a police car and said he has video to prove it. The doctor called a family friend of the Kistners, who confirmed that the video shows Kistner being struck by the police car.

Less than an hour later, ECMC nurses told Kistner he was free to leave.

Kistner’s attorney said the officers conspired to cover up the incident to avoid discipline for hitting Kistner with a police cruiser.

Outcome

Prosecutors dismissed the charges against Kistner once they saw the video evidence.

Kistner’s attorney said as far as he knows the officers were never disciplined.

Kistner said he filed a complaint with internal affairs but was ignored. So, he decided to sue the City of Buffalo, the police commissioner and police officers Lauren McDermott, Jenny Velez, Karl Schultz, Kyle Moriarty and David T. Santana. Pending Common Council approval, James and Earl Kistner will be receiving $1,100,000 as a result of the settlement from the lawsuit.

On October 26th, 2016 Buffalo Police Officers Joseph Hassett, John Beyer, and Brian Strobele used physical force by grabbing, jerking, pulling, tackleing and twisting Moses Torres, forcing his arms behind his back, hitting and striking him in the face and eye area, handcuffing him, and forcing him into the backseat of a police vehicle. Torres sustained severe injuries with accompanying pain, including but not limited to multiple lacerations and contusions to his hands, wrists, head and both eyes, neck, back and shoulders.

Torres was arrested by these officers without a warrant, reasonable cause or reasonable suspicion that he engaged in unlawful activity. The officers falsely, maliciously, and recklessly arrested Torres with force and charged him with Assault in the 2nd degree, Resisting Arrest, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 7th degree, Obstructing Governmental Administration in the 2nd degree, and two counts of Disorderly Conduct.

Outcome

All charges against Moses were dismissed.

Moses filed a civil complaint against the City of Buffalo, the Buffalo Police Department, the County of Erie, the Erie County Sheriff's Department, and Officers Hassett, Beyer, and Strobele due to the emotional trauma and harm, mental injury, physical injury, economic damage, legal expenses, and deprivation of his physical liberty, and rights. The County of Erie and the Erie County Sheriff's Office filed a motion to dismiss the Complaint filed against against them due to failure to state claim. The court ruled that the Complaint against the County and the Sheriff be dismissed and the Complaint against the city defendant could proceed. A Stipulation of Discontinuance was been filed, but no information regarding a settlement is publicly listed.

There has been no information released about disciplinary action against the officers.

While off-duty, Buffalo Police officer Richard Hy harassed, head-butted, choked, and used a racial slur against a person who he felt was playing music too loudly. Hy was out partying with an off-duty West Seneca police officer when the assault happened.

Outcome

Hy appeared in West Seneca Court on a misdemeanor criminal charge of choking and a harassment violation. During his arraignment before West Seneca Town Justice Jeffrey M. Harrington, Hy pleaded not guilty to both counts.

Hy took a plea deal for Disorderly Conduct and was sentenced to 50 hours community services.

Hy was suspended while the case was pending and returned to work at this conclusion.

On July 29, 2016, at approximately 6:30 am, Gotham was quietly eating breakfast with his owner, Mike Urban, who was making his lunch for work. All of a sudden, Officers from the Buffalo Police Department were at his door. Gotham, thinking he had new friends to play with, quietly sat, wagging his tail, waiting for a treat.

Detective Charles Militello discharged his firearm on multiple times and in an unjustified manner, shot and killed 18-month old, Gotham. Mike Urban who was standing by his dogs side was begging Officer Militello to let him put Gotham in his crate when the shot was fired.

Four officers followed Arthur Jordan into the PCS Metro store and told him he was wanted for questioning. When Jordan said he wouldn’t go with the officers, who lacked both a warrant and probable cause for an arrest, the officers closed in on him, sprayed him in the eyes with copious amounts of pepper spray, punched him in the head and eventually restrained him enough to perform a search.

CW: A cellblock attendant grabbed Shaun P. Porter and slammed his face into a door, causing him to collapse and strike his face on the floor and bleed profusely. Meanwhile two Buffalo police officers did nothing as they stood by and watched. After dragging Porter down the hall and hitting him in the head again, he was placed in a restraint chair without medical treatment for about an hour and 45 minutes.

Richard Hy wrestled 29-year-old Parris Stevens to the ground and put his hands around his neck. Hy struggled on top of Stevens for several minutes as a woman repeatedly screamed, “You’re choking him!” and said the man’s eyes were bugging out from the cop’s force. Several other officers surrounded Hy and helped drag him from the sidewalk into a police vehicle.

Hy later claimed that he was not trying to hurt Stevens and was trying to save his life because he had swallowed drugs. Stevens was taken to the hospital and voluntarily threw up the drugs.

Outcome

BPD started an internal affairs investigation into itself. IA found the charges were unfounded and no disciplinary action was taken.

Officer Beyer and Officer Hy viciously attacked Gregory Ramos, dragged him into the yard threw him into a police car. Then Beyer approached Ramos laughing and told him that if his eyeballs fell out, that she would tape them back to his face, and that would be the only medical attention he would receive. Then Officer Beyer and Hy drove Ramos to a parking lot where he sat handcuffed for several hours until they drove him to central booking.

Officers armed with guns and a no-knock search warrant raided the wrong home of Maisha Drayton, then a senior director of staff development at the Evergreen Association, a nonprofit health care organization.

Police left all the doors open when they departed, Maisha Drayton testified. Snow from boots were on the floor throughout the house. The warrant left by officers was full of misspelled words, along with the name of a suspected drug dealer Drayton and her kids had never heard before.

Detectives had obtained the search warrant for the home based on the word of an informant facing unspecified criminal charges. The informant told City Court Judge Amy Martoche, who signed the warrant, that she was hoping to “work off some of the charges” when she told police that a man named George lived at the house and had crack stashed inside.

Officers during depositions said they watched the house at least twice before serving the warrant but didn’t see Tariq, then 10, or his brother Xavier, then 16, go to school each morning, nor did they see Maisha Drayton or her husband, who worked as a graphic designer at the Buffalo News, go to work each day and come home each night.

They also didn’t see George, the suspected crack dealer, but that wasn’t cause for concern, police testified during proceedings in the lawsuit. They believed the house was used to stash drugs, not as a point of sale, and so the lack of visible drug activity wasn’t considered unusual for a suspected drug dealer.

The Draytons owned the home where they’d lived for seven years, and police knew it. They also knew that utilities were in Maisha Drayton’s name. That, too, didn’t cause police to question whether the informant had told the truth about George living there.

In seeking a search warrant, Detective Earl Perrin told Judge Martoche that he knew about George and the house before the informant told police that the Drayton home contained cocaine. He asked that the warrant be no-knock because people inside the house had guns. Kirkham wrote that Mayhook wasn’t candid when he told the judge, without corroborating the informant’s information, that the house was used to stash crack sold elsewhere.

“This statement among other representations made to the court at the in-camera hearing for the search warrant constitutes material misrepresentations of the facts that led to a finding of probable cause [to search the house],” Kirkham wrote.

Officers involved in the raid admitted no mistakes during depositions.

Outcome

Due to the raid, Maisha Drayton, who was in underwear when police rousted her from bed, suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and has experienced panic attacks and vertigo as well as migraine headaches, her lawyers say. Xavier suffered sprained wrists from being handcuffed, injuries to his arms and shoulders and has also experienced emotional injuries, according to the lawsuit. Tariq, who visited a therapist, suffered emotional injuries and has had nightmares, according to the family’s attorneys.

The Buffalo Common Council settled the Draytons’ lawsuit against police for $255,000.

Buffalo police officer confronted Devon Ford on Chippewa Street slammed him onto a car, took him to the ground and then hit him six times with a nightstick.

"I just remember being on my back, saying 'I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything," Ford told a federal court jury.

Outcome

Krug was temporarily suspended. A jury found Buffalo Police Officer Krug not guilty of two counts of deprivation of constitutional rights in the November 2014 use-of-force case.

In September 2014, Hassett and his partner, John Beyer, apprehended 26-year-old Keith Worthy at a gas station at the corner of South Park Avenue and Louisiana Street. The officers then took Worthy and his car into the nearby Commodore Perry housing projects, according to sources who have viewed the investigations that followed.

The officers charged Worthy with trespassing on public housing property, according to the incident report. They also charged Worthy with leaving his car — which had been at a gas pump before they arrested him and moved it — unattended and blocking a roadway.

Outcome

All the charges against Worthy eventually were dropped.

The Internal Affairs investigation into the incident took four years to resolve. The finding: The complaint was “not sustained.” Neither officer was punished.

On July 29 2014, Buffalo Narcotics officers and the SWAT team stormed a West Seneca residence on Edson Street at 6 am in the morning. The residents were sleeping with their house-dog, a nine month old pit-bull puppy named Rocky, who was beloved both in the house and within the community. Rocky had been trained and loved from the time of his birth, was very well socialized, and did not have a mean bone in his body.

In fact, medical records show that despite the officers frightening method of entry into the residence, all Rocky did was stretch his legs at the foot of Joseph Smith, one of his owners' bed. Photos, police reports, and medical records show that two narcotics officers Detectives Joseph Smith and Shawn Adams shot Rocky numerous times with multiple firearms from over 10 feet away as the innocent dog stretched on Smith's bed.

Outcome

The police found a small amount of drug residue and marijuana in the cubbies of a bedroom and charged Joseph Smith, whose dog was blown up at his feet. Smith’s attorney, after a long legal battle, was able to get the charges against his client dismissed. Despite the thousands of dollars that have gone into this worthless prosecution, the DA doubled downed to protect the dog killers and refilled the charges against Smith

Air National Guardsman William C. Sager Jr. was gravely injured when he was pushed down a flight of stairs by Molly's Pub bar manager Jeffrey Basil. When the incident happened at Molly's, two off-duty Buffalo Police officers were there -- Adam O'Shei and Robert Eloff. Officer Eloff helped drag the unconscious Sager out of the bar after the push and handcuffed him at Basil’s request. After spending weeks in a coma at the hospital, Sager died. He was 28.

The incident occurred during a sad chapter of Buffalo history during which members of the Buffalo Police force were not only allowed to have side jobs working security for the local bars, but they were actually encouraged to do so. Despite knowing that this system created a "breakdown in the chain of command," the City's Police Commissioner felt that having visible police stationed throughout the city's bars provided an added police presence at no cost to the taxpayers.

This policy decision was longstanding, and had produced a plethora of citizen complaints from bar patrons. The practice created a conflict of interest for the off duty police, who developed an allegiance to personnel at the bars they were supposed to be policing. The result was a long list of complaints, including underage drinking, bouncers getting away with being overly aggressive, and in some cases, the off-duty police themselves using excessive force. Although the Police Commissioner acknowledged that he considered ending the program prior to May 11,2014' that suggestion was opposed by the rank and file as well as the police union, and the policy was therefore allowed to continue. After the death of William Sager, the Commissioner terminated the policy. However, the practice of off-duty Buffalo Police Officers being allowed to work security jobs on the side continues to this day.

Outcome

Officer O'Shei was suspended for his involvement in the Molly's Pub incident that led to the death of a national guardsman but did not be face any charges. Eloff pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Donald Hall, a friend of Sager. He resigned from the force as part of the plea. Eloff was sentenced to three months in federal prison and three months of home confinement in 2016 in connection to the incident.

In 2015, William Sager Sr., the father of William Sager Jr, filed a civil suit for damages against the City of Buffalo, the Buffalo Police Department, the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda, Buffalo Police Officer Robert Eloff, Buffalo Police Officer Adam O'Shei, Jeffrey Basil, Molly's Pub, the shareholders of Molly's Pub, and Independent Health. The lawsuit continues to be litigated, and is pending trial. In 2015, a friend of William Sager also filed a civil suit for damages against the City of Buffalo, the Buffalo Police Department, Buffalo Police Officer Robert Eloff, Buffalo Police Officer Michael Beavers, Molly's Pub, and the shareholders of Molly's Pub. The lawsuit continues to be litigated, and is pending trial.

CW: On the night of April 19th, when John Willet, a 22 year old Black man, was driving, he noticed a car was following him. Fearing that it may be someone meaning to do him harm, he sped away. The car following him turned out to be undercover police car, which pursued Willet to Ontario and Philadelphia Streets. Willet parked his vehicle, got out and ran across the street where he willingly surrendered. Willet reported that he stood there with his hands in the air when a Buffalo Police Officer punched him and threw him down to the ground. Buffalo Police Officer John Cirulli and Nicholas Militello along with four other officers kneed and punched Willet while trying to apprehend him. John Cirulli kicked and punched Willet while he was handcuffed and laying face down, pleading for them to stop.

Outcome

On April 28, 2014, officers were placed on administrative leave. On April 29, 2014, BPD suspended John Cirulli from duty without pay for violating departmental rules and regulations. On May 29, 2014, he resigned his position with the Buffalo Police Department and pleaded guilty to two federal misdemeanor civil rights violations. He was sentenced to 12 months probation.

On April 15, 2015, Willet filed a lawsuit against him, Militello, the Buffalo Police Department, the city of Buffalo, Jeffrey Rinaldo and another defendant. Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the case.

Police officers Corey Krug and Joseph Hassett assaulted and detained Rickey Spencer for a violation of NYS V&T Law 1236 Lamps and Other Equipment on Bicycles in that he did not have a light or reflector on his bicycle. Spencer required surgery on his arm due to the assault.

Outcome

A civil case against the City of Buffalo, Corey Krug, and Joseph Hassett was settled for $115,000. There has been no information released about disciplinary action against officer Krug or Hassett for this incident of brutality and the $115,000 that he cost Buffalo tax payers.

Police busted down a door of a Breckenridge apartment belonging to Iraqi War combat veteran, Sgt. Adam Arroyo in Buffalo looking for drugs. In the process, the police shot Arroyo's dog Cindy multiple times, killing the dog.

Police claim they read his address wrong. They meant to raid the upstairs front apartment at 304 Breckenridge St, but they became confused and raided the rear apartment. Busting down Arroyo’s door, they found that he was not at home. His dog Cindy, a pit bull, was tethered to the sink in the kitchen.

Detective Joseph Cook, accompanied by a SWAT team of police, chose to stand beyond the length of tether and shoot Cindy, as opposed to wasting the time it would take to get animal control into the house and place the dog in a kennel.

After Cindy was shot, animal control arrived and unloosened her from her bloodied leash. The impact of the bullet had thrown the dog, and it had become entangled around her neck. They were inconvenienced as they unwound her leash and untethered her, removing her carcass in a body bag.

Without realizing it was not the apartment named on the search warrant, police were inconvenienced as they ransacked the apartment. Blood from the dog got on their boots and, despite wiping it off on the carpet, they spread it all over the apartment. Some of it stuck like plague to their boots.

In 2012, Richard A. Metcalf Jr. died from strangulation when jail guards at the Erie County Holding Center secured a spit mask around his neck, leading to suffocation while he was restrained and left face down on a stretcher with the mask and a pillowcase covering his head. Metcalf, aged 35, was transported to Erie County Medical Center and taken off life support after two days.

Outcome

In a civil suit filed by Metcalf’s father, Erie County could have settled over the death of Richard A. Metcalf Jr. for $17 million, but instead took the case to a trial. The trial ended with a jury’s $95 million judgment against the county – the largest known civil verdict ever against the county. Before the lawsuit filed by Metcalf’s father went to trial, the county had already spent $900,000 on legal bills related to the case. Toth said he expects legal costs for defending the county through the trial to total around $2 million.

County Attorney Jeremy Toth called the jury’s decision “inexplicable” and the county would argue the court for a reduced settlement. After arguing for a reduced settlement, a state judge has cut the damages award for the murder of Richard A. Metcalf Jr. from $100 million to $20 million. Acting State Supreme Court Justice Mark J. Grisanti reduced the jury's April award after attorneys for the county and five current and former jail deputies argued that what the jury granted was "excessive."

The jury determined the five deputies used excessive force and four of the five were negligent and violated Metcalf’s civil rights by being “deliberately indifferent” to his medical needs. Jurors in the Metcalf case found that the county and five current and former deputies were liable for using excessive force and depriving Metcalf of proper mental and physical medical care. Among the former deputies that were found to have used used excessive force on Metcalf were Matthew Cross and Robert States, who are now current Buffalo Police Officers. Robert Dee was fired in 2022 by the Sheriff’s Office after a series of investigations into unrelated misconduct, including domestic violence charges and improper contact with a woman who was incarcerated. Edward Kawalek and Scott Emerling still work for the Sheriff’s Office.

Officer Joseph Hassett maliciously and intentionally assaulted Adam Hamideh without provocation during a September 2012 arrest near 1425 Clinton St.

Hamideh said he was he was painfully and seriously injured from the repeated blows and also suffered a shock to his nerves and nervous system and may have permanent defects.

Outcome

A civil case against the City of Buffalo was settled for $70,000. There has been no information released about disciplinary action against officer Hassett for this incident of brutality and the $70,000 that he cost Buffalo tax payers.

Wilson Morales was shot by Buffalo police officers after a car chase on the city’s East Side. The bullet that struck Morales, then a 17-year-old student at WNY Maritime Charter School, instantly paralyzed him from the chest down.

Outcome

Morales, who is still recuperating, faces trial on charges of assaulting a police officer and unlawfully fleeing from a police officer.

Buffalo’s Common Council authorized one of the largest lawsuit settlements in the city’s history: $4.5 million to Morales. A grand jury cleared Officer Karl B. Schultz and a partner at the time, Jason R. Whitenight, agreeing they fired in self-defense as the teenager backed the van he was driving toward Whitenight at the tail-end of a high-speed chase.

Marcus Worthy was subjected to excessive force, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process by Buffalo Police Officers Corey Krug, William Macy, Thomas Herbert, and Joseph Paskiewicz on August 29, 2010. At the time, Worthy, a licensed security guard trainee with a valid pistol permit, was standing outside a residence when the officers arrived in response to an unrelated incident. Without provocation, they tackled, handcuffed, and beat Worthy with a flashlight, causing significant injuries, despite him offering no resistance.

Following the assault, the officers, joined by Buffalo Police Officer Melinda Jones and Lieutenant Brian Strobele, fabricated felony and misdemeanor charges against Worthy (including menacing a police officer and resisting arrest) to conceal their misconduct.

Outcome

The charges filed against Worthy were dismissed by a grand jury.

A civil complaint filed against the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Police Officers Brian Strobele, Corey Krug, Joseph Paskiewicz, Melinda Jones, Thomas Herbert, and William Macy. A civil case against the City of Buffalo, Corey Krug, and Joseph Hassett was settled for $70,000.

Corey Krug was charged with violating the civil rights of three men through use of excessive force, one of which included Marcus Worthy. Krug was eventually acquitted on all counts. Krug as well as the other officers have not faced accountability for this incident of brutality.