avoidable fleet vehicle accident (3rd incident of avoidable fleet vehicle accident

Outcome

Reprimand

According to the city misconduct database, Costello was involved in a fender bender: he backed into a garbage can, and it was avoidable.

Outcome

reprimanded because violated Rules and Reg Section 4.18 Departmental Property and Equipment

According to a complaint associated with city's disciplinary record, victim was allegedly cap-stunned, and punched and kicked while handcuffed on the ground

In a car chase, Hill allegedly pursued a civilian and shot the civilian in the shoulder.

Outcome

The civilian was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison and released in 2015

Accoriding to the City RPD misconduct database, officer fabricated information regarding a warrant and asked victim to lift her shirt to see if she had a tattoo like the person who was supposedly in the database with a warrant that matched the victims description. He also made several inappropriate comments and drove her home in his vehicle.

Outcome

Letter of reprimand on file after investigation

Individual filed complaint that after being chased by police, he was hit, kicked, and punched by officers including officers Mario Correia, Yodice, and Sofia. CRB and RPD sustained complaint that Correia struck the individual in the head with flashlight and lied about it.

Outcome

Other officers testified that Correia hit individual with the flashlight, Correia denied it. Disciplinary letter states his untruthfulness and violation of procedure could have resulted in termination but he's being given "a second chance", and 60 days unpaid leave. Correia appealed and lost.

According to the City RPD misconduct database, Officer Correia pulled out personal firearm while off duty and threatened an individual with it after he thought the individual had pulled the hair of another female. He continued to wave the firearm around and make claims that the individual was all done now and he could end him now.

Outcome

5 day suspension without pay, report filed with professional standards section

Thomas Grillo, a retired Buffalo police officer, was arrested for attacking a man with a tire iron and threatening to shoot him with a loaded revolver during an apparent traffic dispute. Grillo was accused of smashing the window of the driver's car with a tire iron and hitting the driver. He was also accused of pointing a loaded .38-caliber revolver at the driver's head.

Outcome

Grillo was charged with assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, possession of a weapon and criminal mischief.

According to city of Rochester court proceedings for P.S.S. Case 86-1207, Gary Galetta responded as a plainclothes officer to a burglary report along with three uniformed officer. The victim was apprehended as a suspect by the four officers, and Galetta kicked the victim in the side and head while they were on the ground.

Outcome

RPD suspended Gary Galetta without pay for 20 days. This suspension was satisfied with time from the Gary Galetta's compensatory time bank.

On August 7, 1981, the gay rights activist Bob Uplinger was arrested on the corner of North Street and Irving Place in Buffalo for inviting an undercover police officer back to his apartment. Convinced his arrest was unjust, Uplinger fought the state loitering laws that enabled police to entrap gay men and criminalize their sexuality.

The result: a historical verdict in the New York State Court of Appeals, and one of the first gay rights cases to ever appear before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Source: Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project

Richard Long, an 18 year old from North Buffalo planning his first semester at Buffalo State College, was dragged from his brother’s car at 2:30 a.m. on June 25, 1977, beaten and stomped to death by two police officers (Philip Gramaglia and Gary Atti) and a Buffalo businessman (Jack Giammaresi). The three were charged with first degree manslaughter.

The beating was precipitated by a traffic incident, in which Long, driving home after a party, cut off Gramaglia and Atti (who had also been celebrating). The two policemen bragged to their friends about the beating afterwards, over drinks at Mulligans. They never attempted to deny their actions, as this chilling testimony from the trial transcript demonstrates:

“Q. He went down?

A [Gramaglia]. Yes, sir.

Q. What did you do?

A. When he was down, or when he was going down, or just about all the way down, I kicked him.

...

A [Atti]: ...Phil reached down and grabbed him by his shirt and tried to pull, lift him up, and the kid says ‘No,’ so then I started to holler ‘Get up, get up,’ and he wouldn’t get up, and I gave him a quick kick to what I believe is the top of the head.

Q. Then what happened?

A. Well, I believe we were still hollering to get up, and I kicked him again.”

(from Buffalo News, June 25, 1987)

Long drowned in his own blood. Most of the testimony in the trial revolved around whether other officers had been involved, and, although many people still believe there were more, in the end only Gramaglia, Atti, and Giammaresi were convicted. After a relatively painless 18 month stretch in a minimum security facility, the three resumed their lives in Buffalo. This relatively mild verdict was condemned by many.

The Long trial was front page news in Buffalo for months, and was instrumental in ending the mayoral career of Stanley Makowski, making room for then State Senator Jimmy Griffin. Makowski’s police chief, Thomas Blair, left with him.

After the Kent State killings, thousands marched down Main street, protesting the Cambodian invasion. High school students joined in. Club-swinging Buffalo police fired tear gas. Rocks were hurled through bank windows. Students were gassed repeatedly. On May 7, 1970, police filled the student union with tear gas and birdshot.

"It felt like a war zone," says James E. Brennan, editor in chief of the Spectrum, UB's student newspaper, during the riot era.

"I purchased 10 gas masks for our reporters so they could work. The police were lobbing so many tear gas canisters. We put air conditioning units in the print offices of the Spectrum, because the police were shooting tear gas in the windows of the student union. We took the staff down to the basement, put the gas masks on, went up, turned the air conditioners on, aired out the offices and put out an extra edition."

Getting gassed, he recalls, "was like getting pepper thrown in your eyes. It had an acrid, sharp smell, worse than onions." At age 20, "you feel invincible. Until I saw kids lying on the floor in the student union with that birdshot in their skin.

At a rally on March 11, 1970 the Strike Committee at the University at Buffalo issued an ultimatum to the university administration: "meet the strike demands by 9:00 p.m. the next day or face the outcome of a War Council." The Strike Committee demanded that the Buffalo Police leave campus, unconditional amnesty be given to all protesting students and an end to the ROTC program at UB.

Acting President Regan announced that a phased withdrawal of the Buffalo Police would begin March 17 in response.

1,000-1,500 people attended a nighttime rally on campus the following day. Mixed among the UB students were students from other colleges, high school students and other members of the local community.

The War Council began when the rally convened at Clark Gym. Demonstrators burned a bed sheet painted to resemble the American flag and chanted slogans in support of North Vietnam. Protesters then began to throw rocks, ice and other items at police officers gathered nearby.

The protesters moved from Clark Gym to Hayes Hall where they confronted 200 police who were lined up in front of the building. Both sides jeered at and taunted the other before the protesters moved on to the Themis site.

Protesters threw rocks at windows at the Themis site and were confronted by 75 police officers.

Approximately 1,000 protesters returned to Hayes Hall and again confronted the 200 police officers there. Rocks were thrown by protesters at already broken Hayes Hall windows, showering nearby police with glass. At this point, a number of officers charged the crowd and began to beat protesters, members of the Peace Patrol and non-protesting bystanders.

58 people were injured. Some received treatment from Student Health Services, while others were taken by ambulances to area hospitals. Six people were arrested.

Themis was a research project conducted by faculty from the Department of Physiology and was funded by the Department of Defense.

On January 4th, 1970, The Avenue was raided by Buffalo Police. 94 people were kicked out of the bar, 11 people were arrested, and two lesbians were beaten up by officers.

The Avenue opened after another queer friendly space, The Tiki, which was located on Franklin and Tupper, was shut down. The owner of The Tiki, James Garrow, was denied a liquor license by the New York State Liquor Authority because he was arrested for allegedly "cruising other men." Because he was denied a liquor license, the Avenue became a gay “juice bar” and an underground center for LGBTQ people to meet.

However, the police raid permanently closed down The Avenue. Two years later it was demolished - the fate of many gay historic sites in Buffalo. The Avenue was replaced with the Frank A. Sedita City Courthouse, named for the mayor at the time, and is still standing today.

According to the D&C Anthony DiPonzio was shot in the head by Tyquon Rivera, a 14 year old Black Latino man, on Dayton Street in Rochester. DiPonzio was 24 years old at the time. He has been through rehab and remains on the RPD. Rivera denied shooting DiPonzio but was convicted. Rivera denied shooting DiPonzio again in 2016 at a Parole hearing.

Officer involved in "avoidable accident" according to police discipline database.

Outcome

Reprimands

According to Davy V., Hasper has repeatedly harassed reporters

Justia shows Maura Hayes and several other officers as defendants in a lawsuit alleging civil rights violations against a prisoner

According to "Channel 45 News" officer Timothy Luety is claimed to have let a female walk free after being arrested for aggravated unlicensed operation in the second degree. Sources also say officer Luety blatantly violated the department’s general orders regarding issuing appearance tickets to individuals with bench warrant history. Long time partner of officer Luety was also quoted. Officer Shane DiSanto stated “Luety did nothing wrong. Who wants to sit all night at the hospital with these savages. Officer Pedicone is just a cheese eating rat. Ratticus Pediconeious!”

According to D&C and Times-Union reporting, Mazzeo's charges, as summarized by the papers were that he:
allegedly Hit two suspects--an unknown man on Lake Ave. in October of 1988 and Timothy McNulty without justification on Monroe Ave. in June of 1990
allegedly Threatened Alonzo Jackson with a pistol on Joseph Ave. in January of 1990
allegedly Assaulted unknown men on at least two occasions in January of 1990 by placing his pistol against their heads and threatening to shoot them even though they were not resisting
allegedly Used a firearm in relation to a crime of violence in January of 1990
allegedly Embezzled more than $5,000 by being paid for working a 40-hour week but working fewer hours, often ending his day two or three hours early.
allegedly Embezzled and stole property worth more than $5,000 from the department and helped others to do the same

Outcome

Mazzeo faced a 40-year sentence and restitution of $1.05 million, but was acquitted