BUFFALO, N.Y. — A former Buffalo Police officer who says she was fired for stepping in to stop a fellow officer who was choking a suspect has won the fight to get her pension and back pay restored.
Cariol Horne's supporters announced the decision by State Supreme Court judge Dennis Ward on social media Tuesday afternoon - it reverses a lower court decision and annuls her firing almost 13 years ago.
It comes after the city passed "Cariol's Law" last year, requiring officers to intervene when a fellow officer is acting inappropriately or putting anyone in unnecessary danger.
“We are gratified that the court recognized that former Buffalo Police Officer Cariol Horne did the right thing in 2006 when she intervened when a fellow police officer had a chokehold on an arrestee," said Neil Eggleston in a provided statement. Eggleston is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and former White House counsel to President Obama.
"The court has now set aside her wrongful termination from the police force, awarded her back pay, and has given her pension credit. As the court notes in its opinion, ‘The legal system can at the very least be the mechanism to help justice prevail, even if belatedly.’ After many long years, that is what has happened here.”