BUFFALO, N.Y. — The 16-year old Rochester youth who led police on a chase that resulted in the serious injury of a Buffalo Police officer faced a judge for sentencing Thursday.
The teen pleaded guilty in September to one count of Assault on a Peace Officer, Police Officer, Firefighter or Emergency Medical Services Professional and one count of Unlawful Fleeing a Police Officer in a Motor Vehicle.
Shortly before 1 PM on June 3, Buffalo Police responded to a call of four people in a vehicle with a gun in the area of Crossman Avenue. When the officer approached the vehicle, the adolescent driver took off at a high rate of speed into the Town of Cheektowaga. During the pursuit, the teen drove through Mt. Calvery Cemetery and onto Harlem Road where he crashed into two vehicles and a utility pole. The impact of the collision caused the utility pole to fall and crash through the front windshield of a patrol car driven by Buffalo Police Officer Jonathan Negron.
Negron suffered serious head and spinal injuries and was hospitalized at ECMC for several weeks.
The teen, who faced a maximum of 15 years in prison, was sentenced to nine years behind bars followed by three years of post release supervision by Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case. Case was acting as a designated youth Part Judge.
No weapon was ever recovered from a search of the vehicle and the surrounding area.