Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 21-year-old Antonio Gutierrez of Buffalo has been sentenced by State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski to two years at the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden for causing a serious injury crash. 

In August, Gutierrez pleaded guilty to Vehicular Assault in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree. 

On March 29, 2017, as Buffalo Police Narcotics Officers were attempting to execute a search warrant on Weiss Street in Buffalo, the defendant pulled up in a vehicle and sped away when police tried to detain him. 

The defendant was speeding on Seneca Street in Buffalo when his car struck an occupied vehicle, forcing that vehicle to strike a First Student school bus. 

No one on the bus was injured, but the driver in the vehicle struck by the defendant suffered serious spinal injuries. 

Justice Michalski also suspended the defendant’s driver’s license for one year and for a year after that, will require any vehicle he can access to be fitted with an ignition interlock device. 

DA Flynn commends the Buffalo Police Department Narcotics Officers, including Detective Joseph Cook and the Buffalo Police Accident Investigation Unit, including Lt. Thomas Leatherbarrow. 

Assistant District Attorney Patrick B. Shanahan prosecuted the case.