Articles for Investigative Post staff

May 14

2020

Video triggers investigation of cop conduct

A video showing a white Buffalo police officer repeatedly punching the face of a black man who was stopped for a traffic violation has gone viral on social media and triggered investigations by the Erie County District Attorney and the Police Department’s Internal Affairs office. The video, which has been shared on Facebook more than 1,300 times, shows the officers wrestling with Quentin Suttles at the side of a car in an attempt to restrain him. The officer tells Suttles he’s “making it worse” on himself. The video shows Ronald J. Ammerman, a third-generation police officer and three-year veteran of[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 9

2020

Faulty logic behind refusal to release inmates

Updated at 10:40 a.m. The argument prosecutors, and sometimes judges, make is that few inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, so it’s safe to keep them incarcerated. Authorities, however, are not testing many inmates, so they don’t know how healthy they really are. As a result, relatively few prisoners held in Erie County jails or the state’s 53 prisons who are deemed as infectious risks are being released. Only five of Erie County’s 528 inmates have been tested, and only 52 have been released due to COVID-19 concerns. “The standard line from the DA’s office is that ‘We don’t have[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 21

2020

Infections spike among immigrant detainees

Large numbers of detained immigrants and state inmates in Western New York facilities are starting to test positive for COVID-19. Infections have mushroomed from 13 on Friday to 46 on Tuesday among immigrant detainees at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia. That’s more positive test results than at any of the 25 detention facilities operated nationwide by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Twenty-three inmates have tested positive at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden. Eleven of the 23 people have recovered, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Only two other state prisons — Sing Sing[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Apr 15

2020

More sick detainees; more released inmates

Updated: 3:08 p.m. A growing, but still small number of people are being released from local jails and the immigration detention center in Batavia in response to concerns about possible infection from COVID-19. Up to 80 people have gotten out in recent weeks as the result of efforts by advocates to release those incarcerated to get them out of harm’s way from the coronavirus. Some were near the tail end of their sentences for misdemeanor crimes. Others were in for parole violations, and still others had their bail eliminated or reduced. While no inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Apr 6

2020

COVID-19 threat not spurring many jail releases

Although local jails are potential incubators for the spread of COVID-19, authorities are moving slowly, some not at all, to release inmates being held on low-level charges and parole violations, or who are at high risk of contracting the deadly virus. Only 10 of 89 parolees being held in Erie and Niagara county jails for low-level violations had been released as of Friday, a week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that 1,100 such parolees would be freed statewide. Nor have any of the 225 inmates – 165 in Erie County, 60 in Niagara County – been released who are serving[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Apr 1

2020

Listen to us on WBEN

Investigative Post has added another news outlet to its distribution network. Starting Thursday, Editor Jim Heaney, and on occasion, his reporters, will appear several times a week on the morning news program on NewsRadio 930WBEN. The station will also post links to our stories on its website. Investigative Post and WBEN are developing a partnership on the fly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigative Post, the region’s nonprofit investigative reporting center, is producing stories daily on the pandemic’s impact on Western New York. WBEN’s morning news show, “A New Morning with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski,” is the[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Apr 1

2020

Data: Travel reduced only modestly in WNY

Western New Yorkers are being implored to stay at home and limit their travel. Data that tracks cell phone movement suggests that many are not heeding the call. On average, Erie County residents have made relatively modest changes to their travel patterns, reducing their average distance traveled by 40 to 55 percent. That works out to a grade of C on a scorecard developed by Unacast, which tracks cell phone movement. The other seven counties in Western New York are all receiving a grade of D or D minus. On balance, they’ve reduced their movement by less than 10[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Mar 27

2020

Sheriff Howard OK with release of prisoners

Updated: 6:02 p.m. While he has no authority to release people held in his jails, Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard said he has no objection to others using their powers to do so. “As sheriff, it is not in my authority to grant the early release or to remove the bail requirements that have been set by the court,” Howard said in a video statement released Friday. “But I will not oppose any measures or directives of the judiciary or other agencies to release any inmates.” In his video statement, Howard said he has encouraged the state Board of[...]

Posted 6 years ago