Former Police Officer Awarded Pension After Being Fired In 2008

A former police officer who stopped a fellow officer from choking a Black man has been awarded her pension after being fired in 2008.

Former Buffalo Police officer Cariol Horne had maintained for years that she was terminated for intervening when White officer, Greg Kwiatkowski, tried to choke Black suspect Neal Mack. During an interview with “CBS This Morning,” Horne says that Mack “looked like he was about to die” as he was choked while handcuffed. After she was fired, she was also denied her pension.

After her firing, Kwiatkowski sued Horne and her lawyer for defamation. Despite Mack himself confirming that Horne indeed saved his life, in 2011, a judge ruled that Horne’s attorney made eight defamatory statements against Kwiatkowski.

Sadly, Mack didn’t receive any justice in his lawsuit against the five officers involved in his arrest. In 2012, a jury ruled that the officers had not committed any wrongdoing. The single Black juror was the only one to side with Mack.

On Tuesday, Horne won her lawsuit, awarding her pension, back pay, and benefits through August 4, 2010. The New York State Supreme Court vacated a previous ruling that upheld her firing. Judge Dennis Ward said that the city “recognized the error and has acknowledged the need to undo an injustice from the past. The legal system can at the very least be the mechanism to help justice prevail, even if belatedly.”

Ironically, in 2018, Kwiatkowski received four months in federal prison for a 2009 incident where he used unlawful and unreasonable force against four black teenagers, including slamming their heads into a vehicle.