A New York police department has been ordered to pay $700,000 to settle a police misconduct lawsuit after its officers allegedly retaliated against a civilian for filing complaints against them.
The Corporation Counsel's Office in Buffalo asked the Buffalo Common Council to approve $1.68 million in settlements of lawsuits against the city. Most of these lawsuits are the result of police misconduct as in the case of Bruce McNeil, who filed a lawsuit against the city over an ongoing issue with police officers.
McNeil’s lawsuit details how a normal Memorial Day morning in 2019 turned into a life-changing ordeal. He left his home early in the morning to get a newspaper and coffee. Buffalo Police Department officers John Davidson and Patrick Garry pulled him over. They refused to explain the reason for the traffic stop. Instead, they pulled him from his SUV, handcuffed him, and placed him in a patrol vehicle because they “just needed to check” him, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiff argued that the stop was unfair because the officers never told him why they stopped him. Also, they found no contraband in the vehicle and released him without any citations or charges. Upon returning home, McNeil discovered damage to his vehicle when he noticed the hood began bouncing up and down when it hadn’t done so before the stop.
The plaintiff decided that he would file a complaint with the police department for a pretextual stop. He told the front-desk officer the whole story of how Davidson and Garry pulled him over, “ransacked his car,” and damaged it.
The lieutenant on duty allegedly cut him off and ordered him to leave the building and warned that “he would go to jail if he again tried to make a complaint.” When asked why, the lieutenant said it would be “for the marijuana in his car.”
McNeil denied having marijuana in his vehicle. He returned to the precinct with his mother to make a formal complaint where they encountered a different lieutenant. She told McNeil that the previous lieutenant also warned him he would face arrest if he insisted on filing a complaint.
About five other officers who were present during the argument allegedly “conspired to allege that Officers Davidson and Garry found crack cocaine in the back of their patrol car, and further conspired to allege that the crack cocaine belonged to Mr. McNeil.”
Davidson then told Lt. Velez they found the crack cocaine in the patrol car, at which point the lieutenant informed McNeil that he was being charged for possessing the substance. When McNeil said he did not possess crack cocaine, Velez allegedly replied, “it’s too late, you should have left. Two other officers came and arrested McNeil in front of his mother.
The prosecution offered the plaintiff a plea deal, which he did not accept. McNeil was acquitted in December 2019 after the prosecutors declined to call Davidson and Garry to testify under oath. But the story doesn’t end there.
The lawsuit claims Officer Garry confronted McNeil again in April 2020 after following him and pulling him over. “I heard you didn’t accept the plea deal,” Garry allegedly said to McNeil, who had his passenger record the encounter.
Garry ordered McNeil out of his vehicle, searched and handcuffed him, then led him toward the patrol car just as they did the previous year. McNeil refused to get into the car because he wanted to avoid a repeat of what happened during the first stop. Garry looked in the back and said he did not see any drugs in the patrol vehicle “this time.”
This will be the second time the city has had to pay out a settlement because of Officer Garry, according to Investigative Post.
Last fall the city agreed to pay $41,500 to Chevalier Jones, who in 2023 was beaten, then arrested, by Garry and other officers outside a Sycamore Street convenience store, according to court papers. Jones objected when officers shone a flashlight into his car, where his daughter and her mother, Rochelle Alston, were waiting for him.
The ensuing argument led to obstruction charges, which were eventually dropped. Alston sued as well. The city paid her $11,500, bringing the total cost of the incident to $53,000. Both checks were cut in February, according to city records.
In 2024, Davidson and Garry cost taxpayers another $35,000.
Garry has also come under scrutiny for using excessive force, repeatedly slamming car doors on people’s legs and punching another individual in the face.