BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown was in the awkward position of condemning a police officer’s behavior while defending his city's police force during a press conference on Tuesday.
“The majority of our officers are doing the right thing," Brown said. "They get good guidance from management. We want every officer to treat all people with respect and dignity. We didn’t see that with that video.”
That video is the Facebook post that went viral on Monday. It shows Buffalo Police Lieutenant Michael DeLong, 50, confronting and later cursing at a woman who was recording cops dealing with a disoriented man outside a West Side convenience store.
Hours after the video was posted, Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood suspended Delong without pay and ordered an internal investigation of the incident.
This was the third time in two months cellphone video captured city cops acting questionably.
On Mother's Day, a bystander recorded the arrest of Quentin Suttles. The video shows two officers subduing Suttles and then one repeated punching Suttles in the face. Suttles has hired an attorney and plans on suing the city.
Back on June 4, a WFBO journalist was recording police attempting to clear protestors our of Niagara Square. The video shows officers pushing Martin Gugino, 75, backwards. He fell hitting his head hard enough to cause a serious injury. The two officers involved in the incident Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe were first suspended and then criminally charged with assaulting Gugino.
But Mayor Brown insists his police department is not in disarray. Regarding Delong’s behavior, the mayor was emphatic, “This type of behavior cannot be tolerated. It will not be tolerated by the Buffalo Police Department.”
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