Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 31-year-old Deyanna J. Davis of Buffalo was arraigned this afternoon before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case on an indictment charging her with two counts of Assault in the First Degree (Class “B” violent felonies).  

It is alleged that on Monday, June 1, 2020, at approximately 10:00 p.m., the defendant was the driver of a vehicle that went through a law enforcement blockade at a protest on Bailey Avenue and Decker Street in the City of Buffalo. A New York State trooper was run over by the defendant’s vehicle and suffered serious physical injuries. He spent several weeks at ECMC to be treated for a shattered pelvis and a broken leg. The victim continues to recover from those injuries and remains unable to return to work.

The defendant is accused of intentionally and recklessly engaging in behavior that caused serious physical injuries to another person by using her vehicle as a dangerous instrument to commit the alleged crime. In addition, the defendant allegedly, under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, recklessly engaged in conduct, which created a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby caused serious physical injury to another person.

Davis is scheduled to return on on Tuesday March 30, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. for further proceedings. She remains released on bail previously posted in Buffalo City Court.

If convicted on all charges, Davis faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

Following the incident, investigators allegedly recovered a loaded handgun from inside the defendant’s vehicle. The weapon was reported stolen from West Seneca in January 2020.

One of the passengers of the vehicle, 25-year-old Semaj T. Pigram of Buffalo, was indicted by an Erie County Grand Jury on one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (a Class “C” violent felony). The defendant is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment before Erie County Court Judge Case on Monday, March 22, 2021 at 2:30 p.m.

If convicted of the charge, Pigram faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. He remains held on $100,000 previously set by Buffalo City Court Judge Diane Wray at the defendant’s initial arraignment in June 2020.

A third defendant was initially charged and arraigned in Buffalo City Court. The Grand Jury voted to no bill the case against that defendant and the charge against him has been dismissed.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Ryan D. Haggerty of the DA’s Homicide Unit and Assistant District Attorney Ryan M. Flaherty of the DA’s Felony Trials Bureau.

As are all persons accused of a crime, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.