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Officials staying tight-lipped on unintended weapons discharge by police officer

By Howard B. Owens

The unintended discharge of a police officer's weapon while at a residence on Grandview Terrace on April 22 was the subject of a closed door discussion by the Batavia City Council on Monday night, but officials emerged vowing to remain mum on the subject.

City Manager Jason Molino said he's not going to answer any more questions on the topic.

"We've given you all the reports," Molino said. "The chief made a statement. There are no injuries. I believe that to be the accurate statement. I'm not going to get into any more discussion about it."

About an hour before tonight's council meeting, City Clerk Heidi Parker e-mailed a PDF of the incident report from April 22 and said the redacted report constituted all of the publicly releasable information.

The incident report merely covers the alleged domestic call that prompted a police response. The narrative of the incident doesn't mention the weapon discharge at all.

On Friday, the city released the memos written by the five police officers on scene, but all of the narrative was redacted. Only the header information remained.

The city's position is that the weapon's discharge and possible minor injuries to a police officer are personnel matters and are not releasonable under Civil Service Law Section 50-a. 

There is no known prior incident of a Batavia police officer's weapon firing accidentally, so there's no precedent on what information the agency releases on the topic.

There have been police officers injured while on duty within the past few years, however, and the information has not been routinely kept from the public.

The domestic incident report had the names and other personal information redacted of the two people involved in the alleged domestic at Grandview Terrace.

The call began when a resident on Grandview Terrace reported that her ex-boyfriend was breaking items in the house. When police arrived, they found no evidence of a crime being committed and the ex-boyfriend was transported by a police officer to his mother's residence. The ex-girlfriend was advised to go to family court to get an order of protection. A shotgun owned by the ex-boyfriend was taken to a police storage locker for safe keeping.

City Councilman Eugene Jankowski, a former Batavia police officer and one-time acting chief of police, said he was directed not to comment on the personnel matter discussed in closed session, but that the issue was discussed fully.

"My questions were answered in the appropriate fashion and I have a full understanding of what happened," Jankowski said. 

Asked what the chief said about possible injuries, Jankowski answered, "The chief of police is claiming that there were no injuries. He's standing by that statement."

Previously: 

Peter O'Brien

This seems like transparent investigation to me. Obviously there is nothing to see here. The police and city government are not hiding anything from the public.

First we get lied to about the tax dollars we are going to save with private garbage collaction.

Now we have police cover up.

Molino needs to be removed from his position.

May 12, 2014, 11:34pm Permalink
tom hunt

When I first read about this incident, all that came to mind was the short video that was circulating on the InterNet a several years ago about the Fire Arms instructor giving the class on gun safety. He was emphasizing the importance of careful handling of a Glock 40mm handgun and checked that the magazine was not in the gun. He then pointed it downwards pulling the trigger he promptly shot himself in the foot. He tried to gloss over the fact he had just shot himself, he then picked up an AR15 rifle to continue the class. The 20 or 30 people in the class rose up and made a mad rush for the door. I read latter he was taken to the hospital for gun shot treatment.

May 13, 2014, 2:32am Permalink
tim raines

The city is claiming that the report is a personnel matter.

Recently, where I live, a police officer fired his weapon into a floor during a domestic dispute. The police were up front about the incident and provided all the requested reports to the TV and print media.

Batavia PD prefers to run and hide.

May 13, 2014, 8:25am Permalink
david spaulding

... it's plain and simple to me, nothing more than a cover up, and some of your elected officials are in on it too... do you trust the police to tell the truth? haha what a joke..... just wait till you get pulled over some night and there are 5 cops. one doesn't like your attitude and out come the collapsible batons. you'll get your ass beat and the police will not have to explain due to it being a personal matter, possible police training..
I don't venture into Corfu due to the revenue raising police, appears for my own safety I need to avoid Batavia.

May 13, 2014, 5:02pm Permalink
curtis jackson

I agree with Dave. A incident like that happend to me and all the officers there conviently didn't have dash cams on the newest vehicles available. Its sick how the justice system is its not how it was designed to be but so manynpeople are programmed or too close minded. Ima stop there before I offend anymore people

May 13, 2014, 9:43pm Permalink

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