The Erie County Legislature passed a resolution Thursday, March 13 calling for a legislative investigation into an incident involving a county owned vehicle involved in multiple collisions with privately owned vehicles and subsequent settlement.
The legislature is seeking to find out the factual circumstances of the incident of April 2024, what disciplinary proceedings, if any, followed, the Buffalo Police Department’s incident response, charging decisions, victim communications, and the status of the body camera documentation. Lawmakers also seek further information about the Erie County Sheriff’s Office involvement in the incident response, investigation and charge determination.
The resolution also seeks the notification timeline to the County’s Division of Fleet Services, why the vehicle in question was then designated as surplus and sold at auction, the notification timeline and process for claims against the county from impacted vehicle owners, the methodology for settlement and decision-making authority, the payment processing responsibility between the County Attorney and County Comptroller, compliance with established county protocols for these incidents, and the processing of Freedom of Information Law requests pertaining to this matter.
The Legislature is calling for Erie County Sheriff John Garcia, County Executive Mark Poloncarz, Comptroller Kevin Hardwick, County Attorney Jeremy Toth, County FOIL officers, the Director of Purchasing, the Commissioner of Personnel and Director of Labor Relations to provide sworn testimony before the Legislature. The officer involved or a designated representative, a sheriff’s PBA representative, and the Buffalo Police Commissioner or a designated representative are also requested to attend.
Legislators point out that this resolution does not presume guilt or wrongdoing, but it does seek to ensure public confidence on matters that involve public employees and resources are handled with integrity, transparency, and accountability.
