BUFFALO, N.Y. — Former Buffalo Police officer Cariol Horne is looking for vindication after the Buffalo Common Council passed a law in her name earlier this week.
Horne was fired on an arbitrator's recommendation after an incident in 2006 where she says she stepped in to stop a fellow officer putting a man in a choke hold.
Her legal team announced Friday that she's filing a motion in state supreme court to get her pension reinstated.
"I think we've well laid out the case for restoring what was taken away from Cariol, restoring her pension, doing something to correct the wrong from all those many years ago, and we await the judge's decision with confidence that we can see a just outcome," said Horne's attorney.
Mayor Byron Brown has said he wrote a letter to the State Attorney General Letitia James asking for Horne's pension to be reinstated but the AG said she hadn't served long enough to legally receive it.
The Mayor has yet to sign Cariol's Law which requires that officers step in to stop unreasonable force being used on a civilian.
Cariol’s Law was passed earlier this week by the Buffalo Common Council.
It's a duty to intervene law for Buffalo Police officers. It requires Buffalo Police officers to intercede when they believe unreasonable force is being used against a civilian by another police officer. It also protects an officer against retaliation.
Horne was fired over a decade ago when she tried to stop a Buffalo Police officer, Greg Kwiatkowski, from what she described as using a chokehold on a suspect in handcuffs.
The suspect was Neal Mack. When asked if her actions were worth it, Horne told 2 On Your Side “yes” because his life was worth more than a job.