Several RPD officers allegedly approached victim with their guns drawn. Malley told him to get on the ground. Two officers allegedly jumped victim, wrestled him to the ground, and bashed his head. The officers allegedly placed victim in a police car with handcuffs so tight his wrists bled and his hands swelled. When victim filed a complaint with PSS, Sgt. Malley was the officer put in charge of the investigation, even though he was the commanding officer who ordered the assault on Davis.

Outcome

After two years, victim’s complaint was determined to be unfounded.

According to legal documents, RPD Officer Donald Flood arrested a man who was standing on the sidewalk holding a sign that said "Homeless. Hungry. Please Help." The man was simply standing silently on the sidewalk. The arrest was made for violating Rochester's Aggressive Panhandling Act (passed in 2004).

Outcome

The arrest was found to be unconstitutional by judge

According to city disciplinary records Officer Goulay was suspended for a day for failure to operate fleet vehicle in a safe manner, the fourth time in 36 months

Outcome

Suspended without pay for one day

According to D&C, officer Mark Simmons responded to a call that Lashedica Mason was threatening to hurt herself, and ended up shooting Mason three times. Simmons said Mason charged at him with a knife; Mason's family members said she didn't have a knife. then-Sergeant Jeffrey Koehn wrote in Simmons' 2005 yearly appraisal, “His assessment of the threat and his decision to use deadly physical force was correct.”

Outcome

After an internal investigation, Simmons was cleared.

Officers verbally harassed civilian child. Officers threw civilian to the ground, kicked him and pepper-sprayed him. Both children were treated at the hospital. The family was then stalked and harassed by RPD officers.

Outcome

filed a civil rights claim and the family received monetary compensation.

On May 11 2004 Steve Kurtz awoke to find his wife dead beside him. When paramedics arrived at his house they noticed a makeshift laboratory on an upstairs landing, with an incubator full of toxic-looking bacteria, and alerted the Buffalo Police.

Kurtz assured them his lab was, in effect, his studio; that he was an internationally recognised artist, as well as an art professor at the University at Buffalo, who used molecular biology in his work. He was forced to give the police an impromptu presentation while his wife lay dead in another room - he even stuck his finger in a Petri dish of bright scarlet bacteria and tasted it to prove it was harmless. An autopsy later showed that Hope, his partner of 27 years, had died of heart failure in her sleep.

Police deemed the Kurtzes' art materials suspicious and alerted the FBI. The day after the death of his wife, when Kurtz returned from the funeral home, three car-loads of FBI agents were waiting for him. He was now suspected of bioterrorism. His house was quarantined with yellow police tape. Five regional branches of the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defence, the Buffalo Police, fire department, and state marshal's office swarmed over Kurtz's home. They were protected by white hazmat suits and wore breathing apparatus. In the middle of all this, his next-door neighbour put up a sign of support in the window: "He's not a terrorist, he's my neighbour!"

In 1986, Kurtz and his wife co-founded Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), a small artists' collective "dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical politics and critical theory". When the FBI raided his house, Kurtz was researching the history of germ warfare for a new project. He was growing simple types of bacterial cultures, routinely used in high-school biology classes, that could also be used to simulate the mushrooming of anthrax and plague.

Outcome

The FBI detained Kurtz in a hotel; agents took the room across the hall so they could watch his door. Investigators impounded Kurtz's three computers, the contents of his lab, his car, correspondence and a small library of books with titles like Spores, Plagues and History: The Story of Anthrax. They locked his cat in the attic for two days without food or water. They also confiscated his wife's body.

A federal grand jury was convened to evaluate bio-terrorism charges against Kurtz. He was indicted, but not under the biological weapons anti-terrorism act. He and Robert Ferrell, a professor of human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, were charged with mail and wire fraud, accused of colluding to illegally furnish Kurtz with $256 of harmless bacterial cultures. The crime carried a sentence of up to 20 years. Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum sentence for these charges was increased from five years to twenty years in prison. Kurtz's lawyer argued the case should be thrown out of court. The government's "paranoid over-reaction", he said, is a political attack on Kurtz's subversive art.

The artistic community rallied to the cause, staging protests and organising an auction - that raised $170,000 for his defence.

Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government's entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz as "insufficient on its face." In October 2007, Dr. Ferrell pleaded to a lesser misdemeanor charge after recurring bouts of cancer and three strokes suffered since his indictment prevented him from continuing the struggle.

An individual called police for help removing a tenant allegedly stealing from her, was told she needed to evict the tenant, she became agitated and was cuffed, pepper sprayed, and placed under a mental hygiene arrest.

Outcome

No report in disciplinary records, lawsuit filed, unsure of outcome

Officer Camilo was charged with various failures related to performing his regular duties in a competent matter including failure to place a suspect's weapon on an evidence intake form, failure to utilize proper equipment, failure to bring necessary equipment to a scene, leaving a suspect's handgun unattended and unsecured in the Technician's Unit overnight, and under subpoena failing to report to the New York State Supreme Court at the appointed time to give testimony.

Outcome

Letter of reprimand

in court case file, victim alleges improper or illegal police conduct in approaching, attempting to stop, and in pursuing and arresting

Outcome

no discipline

(Fourth) avoidable fleet accident

According to complainant's hand-written letter, complainant was verbally abused, wrongfully arrested, and taken into custody with a loaded handgun. Complainant alleges officer reported other false allegations against the complainant.

Outcome

A letter of reprimand was filed against Mark Allen

According to Davy V Blog and other sources, Officer Simmons responded to a call from family members to assist with a 13 year old threatening suicide. He shot the child in the pelvis three times, claiming self defense.

Outcome

Acting Police Chief Cedric Alexander said victim "acted in an appropriate manner, "The way he was trained to act." He was not disciplined.

CW: More than two dozen Buffalo police officers attacked a peaceful group of bicyclists at 6:30 p.m. They kicked some and beat several with clubs and Mag-Lites. They arrested nine of them on the kind of trumped-up felony charges.

According to City misconduct databse, Costello was involved fleet vehicle accident ; 3rd avoidable accident

Outcome

suspended 2 days without pay , removal of 16.5 hrs from comp bank

According to RPD Misconduct Database, Coniglio was involved in an avoidable fleet vehicle accident.

Outcome

letter of reprimand

(Third) Avoidable car accident

Outcome

Reprimand

According to court documents, RPD officer DiVincenzo used profane language against and then physically slapped an individual while he was handcuffed and being identified at the Police Records counter. The incident was reported by a civilian employee on 01-11-2001.

Outcome

John DiVincenzo pleaded guilty to inappropriate use of force and failing to properly report the event. The officer was sentenced to 5 days suspension without pay and remedial training.

RPD Officer (now Lieutenant) David Gebhardt shot and killed an unarmed Jamaican father of three young children as he was sitting on a couch. According to D&C, "Gebhardt said he tripped or stumbled and his shotgun accidentally discharged".

Outcome

Gebhardt was cleared of all wrongdoing by the Civilian Review Board.

Use of improper tactics according to City of Rochester RPD Misconduct database.

Outcome

suspension

According to the City of Rochester RPD Misconduct database, Officer Elwood used force while taking person into custody, failed to report the incident.

Outcome

suspended