Mother urges probe after teen’s alleged assault at Puerto Rican Festival, questions police body cameras

A mother who identified herself only as Tiffany told the Buffalo City committee that her 16‑year‑old son was assaulted by multiple officers at the Puerto Rican Festival on July 19 and that “numerous officers involved in my son's incident did not have body camera footage.” She asked the committee to review the department’s body‑worn camera policy, internal affairs findings and any discipline or record of why cameras were not activated.

Tiffany said she has pictures and took her son to the hospital, and described seeing footage that she said showed officers walking her son through a crowd while his pants were down and he had only one shoe. “Body cameras are not simply pieces of equipment. They are supposed to provide transparency, accountability, and an objective record of interactions between police officers and members of the public,” she said. The mother asked whether officers are disciplined when they fail to follow the camera requirement and whether the department documents why cameras were not activated.

Police Commissioner (speaker 5) told the committee an internal affairs complaint was opened shortly after the incident and that there is an active IA file examining whether force and de‑escalation complied with policy and whether officers followed the body‑worn camera rules. He described how the cameras buffer roughly 30 seconds of visual data and that activating the device preserves that buffer and begins audiovisual recording. The commissioner said he did not know whether every officer involved in this incident had an active camera and said IA would determine that.

Chair (speaker 1) and council members asked when the video and IA disposition would be made available; the commissioner said videos are producible through a FOIL request after the case file is closed and that IA had committed to closing the file by the end of October. The committee voted to table the item until the investigation is completed so members can review IA findings and any video evidence.