At approximately 8:30 in the evening of April 6, 1970, patrolling Buffalo police officers close to 476 Sycamore Street allegedly came under gun fire from a sniper positioned in the building. Reinforcements were quickly called in by radio to assist in suppressing the fire. Soon thereafter, between 10 and 25 officers entered the building to apprehend the suspected gunman. Complaints shortly received by the Commissioner Felicetta charged that several members of this squad burst unannounced into occupied apartments of the building and without justification beat the inhabitants severely, requiring hospitalizations in several instances.

Outcome

Commissioner Felicetta pursued his investigation of the complaints by assembling the names, 62 in number, of policemen who were on duty in the vicinity of 476 Sycamore Street on the night in question. Several days later, a few complainants were permitted to view photographs of the 62 officers. Apparently because of the age of the photographs, the resulting identifications proved untrustworthy. After further consultation with the complainants and discussion with Buffalo's Corporation Counsel, the Commissioner on May 27 issued a series of orders to his subordinate officers directing the 62 policemen to report to the police Academy in their usual duty dress at 6:00 p.m. on June 3, 1970.

The order concluded: "These arrangements are made for the purpose of staging a lineup so that identification can possibly be made in connection with an incident which occurred at 476 Sycamore Street on April 6, 1970. Because there is the possibility of resulting criminal prosecutions, you will notify each officer so ordered that he has the right to be represented by counsel and/or P.B.A. representative at this lineup. In addition, you will notify each officer that he is entitled to exercise all rights pursuant to the Miranda decision as set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court."

The police officers instituted a civil rights action, alleging that the lineup would deprive them of various constitutional rights. The District Court issued an ex parte temporary restraining order shortly before noon on June 3 enjoining the lineup. Commissioner Felicetta apparently agreed not to conduct the lineup during the suit's pendency, and on August 20 a permanent injunctive order was entered.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that a police commissioner could constitutionally compel 62 police officers to appear in a lineup as part of an internal investigation into misconduct, without violating their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizure. The ruling notes: "The policeman's employment relationship by its nature implies that in certain aspects of his affairs, he does not have the full privacy and liberty from police officials that he would otherwise enjoy. So long as the actions of a policeman's superior remain within reasonable bounds, there can hardly be that affront to expectations of personal autonomy which marks the state's coercive power in the typical arrest case."