BUFFALO, N.Y. — Former Buffalo Police officer Cariol Horne was a guest speaker during the Sister Karen Klimczak Center for Nonviolence Awards on Sunday.
The center recognizes women who live up to Sister Klimczak's legacy.
Horne was fired from the Buffalo Police Department in 2008 after stepping in to stop her former partner from using excessive force.
She has been a trailblazing advocate ever since, winning her lawsuit against the department last year and being the inspiration for Cariol's Law, which is a mandatory statute for police to intervene if another officer is using excessive force.
"What happened during the time that I was a police officer was that I would watch it happen," Horne said. "And was unable to do anything, because when I thought about it, I was thinking, who am I going to go to? Who am I going to tell?
"The point is, some of the people who were abusing people were supervisors. In 2006 I stopped it, and in 2008 I was fired for it. And that same officer, he was promoted."
Organizers say that Sunday's event was a way to unite the two groups, Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, for a common goal.
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 chokehold.
It wasn’t until 2021 when New York State Supreme Court Judge Dennis Ward vacated her firing, saying, "To her credit, Officer Horne did not merely stand by, but instead sought to intervene, despite the penalty she ultimately paid for doing so."
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