BUFFALO, N.Y. - A judge has ruled that a UB student can proceed with his claim against the Erie County Sheriff's Department, after he was arrested at a Bills game last year and suffered severe injuries, allegedly the hands of a deputy.
In court papers, the lawyer for Nicholas Belsito indicates he plans to use footage from another deputy's body camera to back his claim that his client was unnecessarily arrested and brutalized.
Belsito claims when he went to inquire about the fate of a friend, and fellow UB student who'd been arrested while tailgating, when a deputy then set upon him, giving him a concussion and breaking his nose before charging Belsito with obstructing justice and disorderly conduct charges that were eventually dropped by prosecutors.
Monday, 2 On Your Side received new body camera video of the arrest and what lead up to the incident.
Deputy James Flowers: "Why are you throwing beer cans at cops?"
Belsito's Friend: "I didn't. I really, I did not mean to."
Deputy James Flowers: "Okay."
Belsito's Friend: "My friend just told me to pass the (expletive) can."
The body camera footage shows Erie County Sheriff's Deputies arresting one of Nicholas Belsito's friends at a Bills game last year. After the deputies put his friend in their SUV, Belsito wanted to know where they were taking him.
Nicholas Belsito: "I'm sorry, I'm just wondering where you guys are going so I'm gonna meet my friend there and just like..."
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "Who's your friend?"
Nicholas Belsito: "The kid in the back."
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "Okay, well, you want to go to jail with him?"
Nicholas Belsito: "No."
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "Then beat it."
Nicholas Belsito: "No."
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "He's going to jail."
Nicholas Belsito: "Can you tell me the location?"
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "10 Delaware. Beat it."
Nicholas Belsito: "No, what do you mean? Like, tell me the location."
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "10 Delaware."
Nicholas Belsito: " I know. Thank you."
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "Beat it."
Nicholas Belsito: "Expletive."
Deputy Kenneth Achtyl: "Come here!"
Witness: "Run."
After the deputies got out of their SUV, they arrested Belsito. In court paperwork, Belsito claims the officer gave him a concussion and broke his nose.
Deputy James Flowers: "Put your hands behind your back. Stop fighting."
Nicholas Belsito: "Can I get my phone out of my pocket?"
Deputy James Flowers: "Put your (expletive) hands behind your back. Hey, put him right down on the ground, it's gonna be easier. Right down on the ground. Down on the ground."
Witness: "Look what you did to him. He's bleeding."
Witness: "The kid's not even fighting you."
Belsito was charged with obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct, charges the Erie County District Attorneys' office dropped in June. But, D.A. John Flynn revealed Monday that he's now investigating the claim that the deputy falsified his incident report about Belsito's arrest.
"That video now will be looked at thoroughly to determine, we dismissed the charge right away, okay? But now I'm looking at whether or not that officer perhaps made a false statement on his report," said Flynn.
The Erie County Sheriff's Office is not commenting on this incident and the pending legal action.