By Charlie Specht
Source The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Niagara Falls Mayor Robert M. Restaino on Monday defended his administration's decision not to tell the public that city police had shot a suspect for 29 hours, although he acknowledged that was far from ideal.
"There is no question that in this incident, we were ferreting through some facts that were somehow not connecting. And so what we didn't want to do is we didn't want to walk out with a set of facts that we were ultimately going to have to retract," he said. "And so, yes, it took far longer than we would have wanted, and far longer than the public would like to know, but we wanted to make sure because it does involve an officer-related shooting and we wanted to make sure we were accurate."
More than three days had passed by Monday afternoon since Niagara Falls police on Friday shot a 29-year-old man who is now in critical condition at a Buffalo hospital.
But other than specifying that the man first attacked officers, the police and mayor have provided the public with little information. Basic details, such as the names of those involved and whether the injured man was charged with a crime, have not been released by Restaino's administration.
Restaino said Monday that he expects to hold a news conference on the shooting Tuesday.
That pace contrasts with the speed that other local police departments have provided the public with information following shootings that involved police. It may also be contrary to industry best practices for releasing information during controversial shootings.
After speaking at a tourism news conference Monday afternoon, Restaino told a Buffalo News reporter that authorities are "still unpacking a couple of things," and the investigation is continuing.
"I want to make sure that before we stand in front of members of the media, that we've got all of the information," Restaino said.
What is known
What is known is that the shooting occurred around 5 p.m. Friday.
At 10:44 p.m. Friday, a city spokesperson sent news organizations an email stating that hours earlier, police responded to a "domestic call in progress" near Niagara Falls Boulevard and 80th Street.
"When responding officers arrived," she wrote, "a person pulled a knife and stabbed an officer. At that point, officers on scene responded to the assault. The officer was taken to a local hospital. The suspect was also transported to a local hospital."
In the statement, police gave no indication that one of its officers shot the suspect or why the man needed to be taken to the hospital.
Saturday afternoon, Police Superintendent John Faso declined to comment on what happened the night before, telling a Buffalo News reporter that "all press inquiries must go through Mayor Restaino's public information officer."
Ann Harenda, the spokesperson for Restaino, sent out a statement Saturday at 10:10 pm — about 29 hours after the incident — in which police acknowledged that officers "shot an armed suspect."
While responding to a call for a suspicious person, the release stated, "officers approached a suspect behind the Rite Aid at 80th Street and Niagara Falls Blvd. During that interaction, the suspect tried to get away from officers and refused to comply with commands. Officers used a taser, with no effect on the suspect."
"At that time," the statement continued, "the suspect pulled a knife from his pocket, charged at officers, and stabbed an officer in his back. The suspect then attacked a second officer, at which point other responding officers shot him. Officers on-scene immediately began rendering first aid until medical personnel arrived."
The officer who was stabbed sustained minor injuries to his back and arm, police stated, while the suspect — a 29-year-old man — was taken to Erie County Medical Center in critical condition.
The police statement did not name the suspect or police officers involved.
On Sunday, a Buffalo News reporter followed up with city officials, but neither Restaino nor Faso spoke about the shooting.
Monday morning, Harenda sent another email to the news outlets with an update stating that the suspect remained in critical condition and two officers had been placed on administrative leave.
"We are not releasing names of anyone involved yet due to the investigation," the email stated.
Later that morning, Harenda said it was unclear whether the 29-year-old man had been arrested or charged with a crime. She also said the races of the suspect and the officers were unclear.
A News reporter asked Harenda why releasing the names of the involved parties would hamper the internal investigation.
"Since it is a police-involved shooting, before we release too many specific details, we just really want to make sure that everything is by the book," she said.
Niagara County District Attorney Brian D. Seaman declined Monday to comment on the case.
'Timely release' enhances public trust
Niagara Falls' approach contrasts with other departments that provided information to the public after controversial encounters with police.
The day after Buffalo Police shot a knife-wielding man outside a Hertel Avenue apartment building in March, the department released the names of the man who was shot and the officers who were involved. Within four days, Buffalo Police also released body camera footage of the incident.
In February, a state trooper shot and killed a man in after a car chase that ended in downtown Buffalo. State Police released the man's name two days after the incident and the State Attorney General's Office released body camera footage the next month.
Law enforcement guidelines on best practices for shootings involving police encourage departments to make such information public as soon as possible.
A guidebook developed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the International Association of Chiefs of Police states that a police shooting, especially when it results in the death of a civilian or officer, "garners intense interest and scrutiny among the media and the public. In addition, the longer the law enforcement agency withholds this information, the greater the appearance that the agency is protecting its own personnel at the expense of transparency within the community."
The guidebook states that as soon as the preliminary results of an investigation are completed, "the investigator should then prepare a staff memorandum that provides the general facts of the incident. The department should post or distribute this memo to all personnel as soon as possible; as long as it will not jeopardize the investigation, it should also provide this information to the media."
But law enforcement agencies have not reached consensus on an exact time when the names of officers should be released, the guidebook states. The "timely release" of the names "serves to enhance public trust in the investigative process, and adds to the transparency and perceived integrity of the investigation."
However, it acknowledges that releasing the names of officers "in this time of heightened police scrutiny and public dissent has also become a matter of greater concern for officer safety."
Will AG investigate?
It also remains unclear whether State Attorney General Letitia James will investigate the Niagara Falls shooting.
In April 2021, the AG created an Office of Special Investigations to probe "every incident in which a police officer caused or may reasonably have caused the death of a person, whether the person is armed or unarmed, and whether the officer is on duty or not."
Restaino said representatives of the AG's office were at the scene Friday.
A spokesperson for James stated in an email, "As far as we know, the individual is alive. Please note that we only have jurisdiction if a civilian dies."
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