Black police officer fired for trying to stop chokehold wins ruling, to get pension

[Cicada 5]

The officer, Cariol Horne, was fired following a 2006 incident in which she tried to stop an officer from using a chokehold on a handcuffed suspect. Horne served on the Buffalo police force for 19 of the 20 years required to receive a pension.
"The message was sent that you don't cross that blue line and so some officers — many officers don't," Horne said in a 2020 interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar.

"I had five children and I lost everything but [the suspect] did not lose his life," Horne said then. "So, if I have nothing else to live for in life, at least I can know that I did the right thing and that [he] still breathes."

Tuesday's ruling restored Horne's pension and vacated an earlier court ruling upholding her dismissal.

CNN reached out to the city on Wednesday but received no immediately reply. Michael J. De George, spokesman for Buffalo, told the Buffalo News: "The City has always supported any additional judicial review available to Officer Horne and respects the court's decision."

Neither the Buffalo Police Department nor the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association immediately responded to a request for comment.

"The legal system can at the very least be the mechanism to help justice prevail, even if belatedly," Erie County Supreme Court Judge Dennis E. Ward wrote in his decision.

Ward referenced the cases of George Floyd — who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for nearly nine-and-a-half minutes — and Eric Garner— the New York man who died after being placed in a chokehold — among other alleged instances of excessive force by police.

"One of the issues in all of these cases is the role of other officers at the scene, and particularly their complicity in failing to intervene to save the life of a person to whom such unreasonable physical force is being applied," Ward wrote.

Ward referenced Buffalo lawmakers who penned a law obligating police officers to intervene in instances of excessive force and named the legislation after Horne. In so doing, Ward wrote, the city "has thus already determined that Officer Horne intervened to save the life of a civilian."

Horne addressed the court decision in a statement issued through her attorney.

"My vindication comes at a 15 year cost, but what has been gained could not be measured," she said. "I never wanted another Police Officer to go through what I had gone through for doing the right thing."

She called on lawmakers nationwide to pass similar legislation to Buffalo's "Cariol's Law," which obligates officers to intervene and seeks to legally protect those who do.

Black Buffalo police officer fired for trying to stop chokehold wins ruling, to get pension

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I hope this is just step one. Every last official involved in her firing should lose their jobs and their pensions. It's people like them who cow the good cops into not stopping or reporting the misdeeds of the bad ones.

 

[Gergar12]

Why are so many police officers like this?

 

[Revnak]

Why are so many police officers like this?

Because that’s what police officers are.

 

[Agema]

I hope this is just step one. Every last official involved in her firing should lose their jobs and their pensions. It's people like them who cow the good cops into not stopping or reporting the misdeeds of the bad ones.

It reveals the fundamental mindset of too many institutions, which is to protect the wellbeing of the institution - even when they fail in their intended purpose.

 

[Kae]

Why are so many police officers like this?

They've always been like this, they've always done this and minorities have been telling you about it for decades but people didn't listen, it's partly because the extreme ease in which the evidence can be presented nowadays but people are finally starting to pay attention, what everyone needs to learn is that it never was a few bad apples, the purpose of the police is and has always been to oppress and silence the people so that the people in charge can run things how they want, it's pretty obvious in hindsight, how carrying guns in the middle of the city wasn't a problem until the Black Panther Party did it, this is the nature of authoritarianism.

 

[happyninja42]

They've always been like this, they've always done this and minorities have been telling you about it for decades but people didn't listen, it's partly because the extreme ease in which the evidence can be presented nowadays but people are finally starting to pay attention, what everyone needs to learn is that it never was a few bad apples, the purpose of the police is and has always been to oppress and silence the people so that the people in charge can run things how they want, it's pretty obvious in hindsight, how carrying guns in the middle of the city wasn't a problem until the Black Panther Party did it, this is the nature of authoritarianism.

That and a combination of the US culture's fetishization of violence, and cops/military in pop culture, coupled with a system that actively looks for people with that "gung ho" attitude to join the force. Couple it with a culture (internal police culture, and society at large) that actively discourages seeking help for mental health, and implies people that need it are less of a man, and you have a system that streamlines for violent assholes, that are conditioned to respond with extreme measures at the slightest provocation, and feel it's justified.

 

[Seanchaidh]

It reveals the fundamental mindset of too many institutions, which is to protect the wellbeing of the institution - even when they fail in their intended purpose.

The intended purpose of US police is to protect the property and comfort of the rich from the underclass that creates and maintains both.

 

[Revnak]

The cops

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I don't think we can sensitivity training our way out of this one

 

[Seanchaidh]

I don't think we can sensitivity training our way out of this one

Well, we could stop doing the opposite of sensitivity training. For a start.

 

[Gordon_4]

The cops

What the merry fuck is that?

 

[tstorm823]

What the merry fuck is that?

Training targets that were intended to let someone practice analyzing threats by what someone is doing rather than what someone generally looks like. As opposed to training people to see "tall man in black hoodie" as the default threat. I'm not saying it's good or well executed, but I can see the intent.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, given that school shootings by kids are a regular occurrence in the US, which nobody wants to address, and to the extent that there's always moves to arm teachers to kill their students, training police to also kill armed kids makes a certain kind of sense.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Gotta put down that evil toddler ASAP. Actually deescalating a situation is grounds for firing

 

[Revnak]

The toddler target defenders have logged on

 

[Agema]

Training targets that were intended to let someone practice analyzing threats by what someone is doing rather than what someone generally looks like. As opposed to training people to see "tall man in black hoodie" as the default threat. I'm not saying it's good or well executed, but I can see the intent.

So can I.

But a significant issue is whether some US police forces have a paramilitary conflict mindset, that trains them endlessly about threats and not so much about de-escalation and community engagement.

 

[Avnger]

So can I.

But a significant issue is whether some US police forces have a paramilitary conflict mindset, that trains them endlessly about threats and not so much about de-escalation and community engagement.

It's not really a question of whether this is the case unfortunately. It's purposely a feature of their training.

Law Enforcement's "Warrior" Problem - Harvard Law Review

Within law enforcement, few things are more venerated than the concept of the Warrior. Officers are trained to cultivate a “warrior mindset,” the virtues...

harvardlawreview.org

I Learned to Think Like a “Warrior Cop”

The course from a prominent police trainer taught me to treat neighborhoods like battlegrounds—and to always be ready to kill.

slate.com

"Are you prepared to kill somebody?” A day with one of America’s most popular police trainers

The dark vision of "killology" expert Dave Grossman.

www.motherjones.com

Warrior or guardian? How police training fails us - MinnPost

Author Seth Stoughton argues that the guardian, not the warrior, offers the appropriate metaphor for modern officers.

www.minnpost.com

Who ever could have guessed that teaching cops things like "The best sex you'll ever have in life is after killing someone." and "Shoot first, ask questions later." would lead to excessive use of force and unnecessary shootings by police...

 

[Revnak]

How many kids should cops kill? Our source with the police says they aren’t killing enough.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Gotta put down that evil toddler ASAP. Actually deescalating a situation is grounds for firing

I especially like that the little boy is both smiling and doesn't seem to know how to actually hold or aim the gun. Clearly he is an imminent threat.