13 days before a white supremacist lynched ten Black people in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, Police Captain and head the Behavioral Health Team, Amber Beyer read aloud a Facebook post by a resident with a mental illness that the behavioral team was going to check on. In the post, the resident freely used a racial slur that targets Black people. Beyer yelled out the word as she read the post to members of her team,

In her racist rant, Beyer said Black cops were more likely to cheat on their wives than white cops and she’d be suspicious if she saw a Black man in her neighborhood. She claimed white police officers suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from working in Black neighborhoods, but Black officers did not, because they were more accustomed to violent crime. Beyer told Black officers they should try to understand how the criminality of Black people justified some racism. Beyer offered these opinions on May 2 in the Behavioral Health Team’s office in police headquarters on Court Street.

Captain Beyer did not apologize and said she had just been repeating what her husband, a patrol lieutenant, had stated.

Outcome

A lawsuit was filed in federal court by two Buffalo police officers and a civilian mental health clinician. The civil rights complaint is still being litigated.

Beyer was put on a 30-day unpaid suspension. She no longer heads the Behavioral Health Team and has been reassigned.

The Behavioral Health Team pairs police officers with mental health clinicians to respond to calls regarding people having mental health crises.

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.

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.

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.