*Embattled Buffalo (New York) Police Department’s past is coming back to haunt them during George Floyd protests.
Last week two officers from the BPD were seen on a viral video violently pushing an elderly man to the ground during a protest.
On Saturday June 6, 2020, the officers – part of the tactical team that responds to protests and civil unrest – plead not guilty to second-degree assault charges and were released without bail. After the decision to charge the officers, the remaining members of the tactical team resigned. (See EUR coverage here).
While grappling with that, the BPD now must answer to some old police brutality questions that have plagued the department for years – and one of the cases involves Cariol Horne back in 2006.
Horne, who has been interviewed heavily while protesting George Floyd’s police brutality death, was not a usual suspect. She (a black woman) was a police officer coming up for retirement after 19 years on the BPD when she came across a fellow white officer (Officer Gregory Kwiatkowski) beating and choking a detained black man (Neal Mack) in a reported domestic disturbance call.
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Last week in an interview with WBEN, Horne said of the incident, “You are taught to use only the force necessary to effect an arrest. These officers are going above and beyond because they are beating people who are handcuffed. It was the same situation with Neal Mack. He was handcuffed and being beaten, that’s why I stopped the chokehold.”
After a lengthy two-year investigation, in 2008, Horne was fired just short of being eligible for her pension for violating a suspect’s rights. She apparently jumped on the officer’s back to stop him from choking Mack. Kwiatkowski retaliated by punching her in the face. Horne describes what happened in the below video from 2014.
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Horne reflects on what is happening today with the recent protests that are about ongoing police brutality and social injustices.
“Black people scream about it all day every day and you have white people who are sympathetic to our calling to say yea all lives matter but black lives are the ones being brutalized right now so we need attention on black lives,” Horne told Spectrum News earlier this week. “So, when white people understand that and want to jump in on the movement, it’s like come on.”
Now a truck driver with five children, Horne’s been fighting the good fight. She hopes to pass Cariol’s Law which would protect officers who report fellow officers abuse of suspects and others. She is also hoping that state laws will be changed that protect police discipline records from going public.
“If you are a public servant, your record should not be private, especially when you are dealing with the public,” Horne told WBFO. “So, if you are a police officer and you are dealing with someone, it makes no sense to keep the record private, because you are out in the public. It only makes sense.”
So, what ever happened to the white police officer in Horne’s case? Gregory Kwiatkowski (now retired) was convicted of attacking four young black men during an arrest a few years after his incident with Horne. He was sentenced only to four months in prison plus four months of home confinement. The sentence could have carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
For more on Cariol Horne’s story, go to her website here.
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