A Cop Gets Fired for Stopping a Colleague’s Chokehold
What Happened To the Black Officer Who Intervened to Stop White Officer’s Violence?
Doing the right thing supposed to come with rewards and accolades especially when it comes to public service, e.g. firemen, policemen, etc. Well, it’s a new day and a new way where doing the right thing is not honorable but a hazard to one’s occupation while being a cop.
May 2008, this particular cop arrived to work as usual to protect and serve and in doing so, her life changed for ever as she was fired as she stopped a colleague’s chokehold. With the advent of recordings, camera footage and social media a lot of darkness is coming to the light. These unveilings will bring about much change needed within any system that is ravaged with racism.
Cariol Horne, a former Buffalo police was fired and thirteen years later was granted back pay and benefits that was previously denied. Cops who murder others or shoot others right before our very eyes are place on administrative leave until there is an investigation but Ms. Horne was fired and all she did was help and took action to prevent a tragedy. Imagine is she was doing the chokehold and a colleague prevented her, I often wonder if the scenario would have played out the same.
Thirteen years ago one cold November day in Buffalo, New York, Officer Horne reported to duty and was sent to help a fellow officer who need assistance. Upon arrival to the scene, what she found was an out of control officer who seem to be in a rage punching a defenseless handcuffed Black man in the face repeatedly while other officers stood idle by, almost as if they were enjoying the entertainment. Similarly to a lynching back in the day, as a helpless Black man swung from a noose while the KKK and their families celebrated the sight with picture taking, chatter and laughter.
Ms. Horne took action as any descent cop would do to protect and serve as she heard the handcuffed Black man mutter that he could not breathe while being in a chokehold. This atrocity struck a humanitarian cord within Officer Horne as she forcibly removed the white officer and blows between the two were exchanged. A white male cop fighting a black female cop, while the other cops evidently looked on. Protect and serve, not even for their very own. Note, she was assumed to be wrong in the altercation. Where is the justice hear?
Ms. Horne got reassigned, hit with departmental charges and eventually fired, just one year short of 20 in collecting her full pension. She fought to right this wrong but the justice system not only ruled against her but was stacked against her from day one because she chose to do the right thing and was not one of the good old boys, but chose to serve her community.
In light of the George Floyd court hearing, the state court judge vacated and earlier ruling that affirmed her firing, rewrote her police career firing, and granted her retroactive pay and benefits. The legal system finally decided to right this terrible wrong, an injustice that should have never happened.
Thirteen years later, God prevails through the justice system at the hands of Justice Dennis E. Ward who wrote his ruling as he referenced the deaths of George Floyd, Eric Garners whose words were, “I can’t breathe.” He stated, “The time is always right to do right, ” quoting Martin Luther King Jr.
Horne now 53 celebrated her vindication from doing the right thing that went wrong. She stated, “My vindication comes at a 15-year cost, but what has been gained could not be measured and I never wanted another police officer to go through what I had gone through for doing the right thing.”
At this point of her vindication, the other officer whom she had the altercation with, him and his lawyer went silent. Both are a day late and a dollar short because they are wrong. Ms. Horne should not have been punished, but note the other officer gets to parade around like he did the right thing. America’s justice system needs a makeover badly. It is embedded with much racism and needs to be dealt with as this officer and the likes of him are yet out there on their beat looking for their next prey of color.
The event that led to their altercation in 2006 was a dispute between a woman and her boyfriend whom she had accused of stealing her Social Security check. Upon the arrival of the cops, things turned violent. Of late, too many cops have attributed to the problem and not the solution. If and when there is a domestic dispute unless someone’s life is being threatened, my advice is do not call the cops, walk away and let the steam blow off. Too many have lost love ones at the hands of too many police being trigger happy.
When Ms. Horne saw officer Kwiatkowski put the man in a chokehold, even though he claims he grabbed the man around the neck and shoulders in a bear hug headlock from behind, and went into action. Why grab the man at all? What happened to protect and serve? Cops have guns and have some advantage over someone who do not. Shooting or becoming physical should be the last resort for any officer. This officer claimed that Officer Horne struck struck him in the face, pulled him backward by his collar and jumped on him. Gosh, wish there were cameras, then the world would know the truth.
After an internal investigation, officer Kwiatkowski was cleared of all charges while Horne was offered a four-day suspension, which she turned down., and rightfully so. Suspended for doing the right thing? After two hearings in 2007 and 2008, the Police Department found that her use of physical force against a fellow officer had not been justified, yet she was fired in May 2008 while officer Kwiatkowski was promoted to lieutenant the same year.
Their saga continued, the dispute between these two officers did not end after she was fired. He sued her for defamation and won a $65,000 judgment against her. Wow!! What a justice system!? Officer Horne may have saved a life and she got fired.
If you are rotten as a person, you will be rotten as a cop. Officer Kwiatkowski’s police career ended under a cloud as he retired in 2011 while facing an internal affairs investigation and was indicted the following year on federal civil rights charges stemming from the arrest of four Black teenagers. These are the two situations he got caught doing, what else may he have done that is well buried down in the crevice of his tormented soul. Being caught again, he accepted a plea deal of sort, got a slap on the wrist, four months in prison.
After Ms. Horne’s career as an officer ended, she worked on various jobs, all this because she chose to do the right thing. Killings and murders around the Country at the hands of racist cops has shed more light on the atrocity that she faced. Presently, she has filed a lawsuit seeking to vacate the firing and is working with the city of Buffalo to pass legislature, the Common Council, to pass a so-called duty-to-intervene law requiring officers to step in when one of their own used excessive force. Legislature was was adopted and approved, “The Cariol’s Law”, in 2019. Its overall goal is too make other officers accountable for their action or in action. Officer Horne led by example and should be celebrated for her duty as she fought to keep a civilian safe. At the end of the day, she probably can live with her self for doing the right thing but the Officer Kwiatkowski has to live with himself for all the atrocities he has caused while being a cop and otherwise, who knows.
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