Buffalo has a police problem

This is Marcus Neal.  Marcus was shot and killed by a Buffalo police officer last week.  He is also my nephew by marriage. As is often the case,  the police have created a narrative that exclusively relies upon the claims of the officer that fired three shots into Marcus’ body and the two other officers that were reportedly present during the shooting death. 

According to media reports, the officers were responding to a shoplifting incident that supposedly occurred at a store called Wegmans in Buffalo’s Black Rock neighborhood.   As they were approaching Wegmans, they claim to have seen a suspect that matched the description of their misdemeanor shoplifting suspect.   That person that they have repeatedly described as nothing more than a suspect was Marcus Neal.    

The media further reported that the officers chased Marcus for nearly one mile.   The officers have claim that they chased Marcus onto a roof where he pulled out a knife. There is no mention of the type of knife or it’s actual size.  No picture of the knife has been produced for public inspection.   The officers then claim that they sprayed pepper spray at Marcus and that Marcus then lunged at them with a knife.  They say that they had to shoot Marcus to protect their own lives. 

People should not take the Buffalo Police Department at their word for several reasons.  These reasons include the following: 

First,  pepper spray is a substance that causes temporary blindness, shortness of breath, hyperventilation and can lead to involuntary movements.  The person that is sprayed often becomes bewildered and is not steady on their feet.  They may fall to the ground or move irrationally as a result of the intense pain and the feeling of blindness.  A rational officer would not spray pepper spray at a person that they authentically believed was in possession of weapon that they believed could harm them.   That would only make the situation worse.  

Second, while the police claim that Marcus fit the description of the shoplifting suspect, no video has been released in relation to this incident.  Not even video from the store that he allegedly shop lifted from.  In recent years, there have been incidents in Buffalo where the  Buffalo Police Department has represented that an event happened one way and video was later discovered that called the police version of events into question. 

Third,  the Buffalo Police Department has shot three different people in that past five months. In each of these events, the police have controlled the message.   Authentic investigations that may produce some amount of accountability seems to be absent in the City of Buffalo.  Because of the narrative of the police department,  it is unlikely that the New York Attorney General will actually investigate this matter.  All the police needed to claim, was that a weapon was present in order to minimize the possibility that the NY Attorney General would get involved.   Again, we don’t know if this was a tiny pocket knife or something else.  We don’t even know if a weapon even existed. 

Fourth, Marcus is no longer able to speak for himself. The community has to become his voice and the voice of so many others.  The community has to be the source of the demand for change.   The  Community must be the entity that brings accountability to police departments. 

Marcus Neal was a father, brother, son and a grandson. He was in Buffalo trying to clear up a several year old traffic ticket so that he could regain his license.   He was, for whatever reason, suspected of being a misdemeanor shoplifting suspect.  He will never have his day in court.  He will never have the opportunity to give us his perspective. 

I am asking for my friends that care to do whatever they can to help me force an investigation into the police shooting of Marcus Neal.  The following could be helpful: 

·     Contact the NY Attorney General and demand an investigation into the shooting death of Marcus Neal (800-788-9898 or NYAG.pressoffice@ag.ny.gov)

·     Contact the Mayor of Buffalo’s office and demand an investigation and improvements in Buffalo accountability systems (716) 851-4841 or mayor@city-buffalo.com)

·     Contact Erie County District Attorney John Flynn (716) 858-2424 and demand that he request that the NY AG’s office investigate the Marcus Neal matter. 

·     Contact Buffalo Police Commissioner  Byron Lockwood (716) 851-4040. 

·     Follow just resisting Buffalo on Facebook for additional ideas;

·     Share this post far and wide;

·     Assist in contacting individuals that live in and around Buffalo so that they can know more about Marcus Neal;

·     Share this post far and wide; and

·     Any other positive thing that you can think of.

Thanks for anything that you can do

James Bible Esq.

Civil Rights Lawyer

Uncle in Law of Marcus Neal