29 Search Results for Sheriff Garcia

Mar 24

2025

Sheriff John Garcia goes Sergeant Schultz

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Erie County Sheriff John Garcia pulled a Sergeant Schultz the other day, saying, with a straight face that he knows nothing about the hit-and-run antics of Daniel “D.J.” Granville that Geoff Kelly reported on two weeks ago. And, get this, he proclaimed he will “do the right thing” if ongoing investigations turn up evidence of wrongdoing on Granville’s part. What a bunch of, ah, hooey.  Granville is a ranking member of Gracia’s command staff and it’s inconceivable that he was not aware of his narcotics chief’s conduct last April when he smashed into seven parked cars.  Sorry, but the time[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Jun 25

2024

A purchase by the sheriff with limited value

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Erie County Sheriff John Garcia. Photo by Garrett Looker. The Erie County Sheriff’s Office plans to acquire equipment to detect whether motorists are under the influence of drugs, even though results aren’t admissible in court due to accuracy concerns.  The purchase of five SoToxa drug analyzers at a cost of $26,000 would be funded through a $2.9 million state grant approved unanimously last week by the county Legislature with no debate or discussion. The money also would pay for surveillance cameras, drones, license plate readers and mobile x-ray equipment designed to capture images of vehicles that would be deployed at[...]

Posted 10 months ago

Mar 5

2024

Lawsuit accuses Erie County Sheriff of stonewalling

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Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia. Photo by Garrett Looker. The Erie County Sheriff’s Office is being sued for jail records. Again. The Partnership for the Public Good, which asked for records last May, filed suit in December after its request for documents for the downtown holding center and Alden lockup was refused. It’s the third time since 2018 that the sheriff’s office has been sued over jail records. In the two previous cases, courts ordered the sheriff’s office to provide requested documents.  “They don’t give up stuff they should give up,” said Nan Haynes, who sued the sheriff in[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 20

2023

Erie County sheriff wants $10 million helicopter

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Erie County Sheriff John Garcia wants to double his department’s helicopter fleet with a new chopper that would cost more than $10 million. “It’s a matter of safety,” Undersheriff William Cooley told Investigative Post in justifying a new Airbus H135 helicopter that would take two years to build and outfit. “We see an absolute need for a new machine.” The sheriff’s office boasts that its current helicopter helps nab suspected car thieves and controls traffic at Buffalo Bills games.  The department says that its 22-year-old chopper, often grounded for maintenance and repairs, has saved lives. The department once considered replacing[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Apr 21

2025

Who’ll make the primary ballot?

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Attorney Jessica Kulpit is a lock to be elected to an Erie County Court judgeship this November. There are two county judgeships on the ballot this fall and, as is so often the case around here, exactly the same number of candidates to choose from. Kulpit and incumbent James Bargnesi — both Democrats — will appear on the Democratic, Republican, Conservative and Working Families party lines. The cross-endorsement deal between parties also ensures the reelection of incumbent Erie County Family Court Judge Brenda Freedman, a Republican who will have the Democratic and Conservative lines, as well as that of her[...]

Posted 2 hours ago

Apr 14

2025

Granville update, plus other Monday morning reads

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The Buffalo Police Department has put five officers on administrative leave as it continues to investigate the department’s response to the incident last April in which Erie County Sheriff Narcotics Chief D.J. Granville hit seven parked cars in his county-owned pickup truck. Police also, on the day the statute of limitations was set to expire, issued citations to Granville for leaving the scene of an accident. One of the five officers suspended is Lt. Lucia Esquilin, Granville’s sister-in-law, who responded to the scene and signed off on reports related to the incident. The other four were Police Officers Brittany Bartels,[...]

Posted 1 week ago

Mar 31

2025

D.J. Granville and the “blue wall of silence”

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At the heart of the scandal enveloping Erie County Sheriff John Garcia and his chief of narcotics, D.J. Granville, is the so-called “blue wall of silence” — the unwritten understanding that law enforcement officers protect one another by refusing to report or corroborate wrongdoing among their ranks. For nearly a year Granville has been protected by that code. A deposition the narcotics chief gave for a lawsuit in November — nearly seven months after the incident that in recent weeks has made him famous — illustrates his own commitment to it. First, a refresher: Granville last April 11, while driving his[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Mar 13

2025

Hit-and-run narcotics chief a prolific political donor

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Erie County Sheriff John Garcia (left) and Chief of Narcotics Daniel J. Granville (right) at a press conference Tuesday. Photo courtesy 7 News. Daniel J. Granville — the Erie County Sheriff’s chief of narcotics who last April plowed his county-owned pickup truck into at least seven parked cars on Buffalo’s West Side — is a prolific donor to local politicians. So is his wife, former Buffalo police crime scene technician who now works for the Buffalo Sewer Authority.  And so is his sister-in-law, the Buffalo police lieutenant who supervised the police response to the accident scene — and who is now[...]

Posted 1 month ago