Jim Heaney

Jim Heaney is editor and executive director of Investigative Post. He was an investigative reporter with The Buffalo News from 1986 to 2011 and a reporter and editor with The Orlando Sentinel from 1980-86. His coverage over the years has focused on economic development, local and state government, politics, education, housing and transportation, and he was an early practitioner of computer-assisted reporting. Heaney has won more than 20 journalism awards and was a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

Oct 9

2018

State finds police fault in Lehner drowning

A state investigation into the drowning of Buffalo police diver Craig Lehner identified numerous problems with the policies and procedures of the city’s Underwater Recovery Unit. The report by the Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau of the state Labor Department concluded that Lehner drowned last October after his tether line became snagged on a boulder about 25 feet under water. The safety bureau faulted the police department on a number of fronts, including the inadequate training and equipping of Lehner. The findings mirror previous reporting by Investigative Post, which determined Lehner was not sufficiently trained or equipped to drive in the rapid[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Oct 5

2018

Heaney discusses fatal police shooting

Jim Heaney discusses his coverage of the fatal police shooting of Rafael “Pito” Rivera with Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom. Heaney also noted the absence of concern, much less criticism, from elected officials or most activist organizations in the city in the face of the death of three men of color in encounters with Buffalo police since March 2017.

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 15

2018

Video shows deadly police shooting

A video of the shooting of Rafael “Pito” Rivera shows he was running from police when an officer shot him twice at close range, according to an Investigative Post review of the footage. The video shows Rivera falling as he turns off Plymouth Avenue into the parking lot of the former School 77 about 3:15 a.m. Wednesday. He crawls several feet, gets up and runs several steps until a police officer about 10 to 15 feet away fires two shots. Rivera falls to the ground, motionless. Rivera does not point a weapon at officers in the video, which shows[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 14

2018

Attorney: Video shows “bad shoot” by police

Rafael “Pito” Rivera was running from police and posed no threat to officers when one of them shot him several times in the back, the attorney representing Rivera’s family has told Investigative Post. Steve Cohen made his claim of a “bad shoot” based on a video taken from a surveillance camera that captured the shooting at 454 Plymouth Ave., on the city’s lower West Side. Cohen said he viewed the video early Friday evening with the family. “There could be no interpretation of that video that [concludes] Mr. Rivera was pointing a gun at the police when he was shot,”[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 13

2018

Attorney senses a police coverup is afoot

Steve Cohen – a civil rights attorney retained by the family of Rafael “Pito” Rivera, who was shot dead by police Wednesday – told Investigative Post he suspects Buffalo police are engaging in a coverup. Cohen, in an exclusive interview with Investigative Post, said police have been uncooperative, to the point of refusing to allow the Rivera family to view the body or provide basic information about the fatal encounter. Police, he said, are typically quick to share information in the case of justifiable shootings. “When the police refuse to interact with the family, refuse to interact with the family’s[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 7

2018

Heaney talks primary on ‘Pressroom

Jim Heaney tells Susan Arbetter of WCNY’s The Capitol Pressroom that few candidates for statewide office have campaigned aggressively in Western New York during this primary season. He also said the next state attorney general needs to focus on dealing with state corruption. Give a listen.

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 5

2018

Heaney discusses Tonawanda Coke

Jim Heaney tells Scott Levin of WGRZ that Tonawanda Coke has been a rouge operation for years. The foundry coke plant off River Road was back in the news Monday, when federal prosecutors hauled the company into court and public officials questioned the firm’s conduct after they temporarily blocked firefighters from dealing with a blaze at the facility. Heaney gave Levin a rundown on the plant’s troubled history, including violations of the Clean Air Act and worker safety violations.

Posted 7 years ago

Aug 31

2018

Heaney discusses anti-corruption bill

Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney discusses the effort by Assembly Member Crystal Peoples-Stokes to stymie an anti-corruption bill that has languished in a committee she chairs. Heaney spoke with WBFO’s Jay Moran on Press Pass.

Posted 7 years ago