Black Cop Fired After She Stopped White Cop's Chokehold, City Wants Investigation

A city counsel is asking the New York Attorney General's Office to investigate the firing of a Black police officer after she tried to stop her white colleague from putting a chokehold on a suspect.

In 2006, Cariol Horne was let go from the department for "intervening" in the arrest, causing her to lose her pension after she had served 19 of the 20 years required to receive it.

"I don't want any officer to go through what I have gone through," Horne told CNN. "I had five children and I lost everything but [the suspect] did not lose his life."

"So, if I have nothing else to live for in life, at least I can know that I did the right thing and that Neil Mack still breathes."

In an interview with WKBW in 2014, Horne said she arrived on the scene of a domestic dispute when she found Mack handcuffed and being punched in the face by another officer. After they took Mack outside, the same officer "began choking" Mack and Horne attempted to stop the chokehold, according to Horne.

"So when he didn't stop choking him, I grabbed his arm from around Neil Mack's neck," she told the outlet.

Then the officer reportedly began punching Horne, who said she had to have dental work because of it. She also said other officers held her back when she attempted to defend herself.

Horne was then charged with obstruction for "jumping on the back" of the officer and "striking him with her hands." The officer, however, confessed Horne never jumped on his back, according to his sworn testimony.

The Buffalo Common Council now hopes the Attorney General will take a second look at the incident.

In the proposed resolution, the council refers to the case of George Floyd, the 46-year-old Black man who was killed when a white officer kneeled on his neck for almost 9 minutes during Floyd's arrest.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and charged with second-degree murder. The three other officers involved were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

"There is a responsibility to propose special protections for individual police officers who intervene to protect citizens from excessive use of force situations involving their other officers," the council wrote, per CNN.

Buffalo Common Council President Darius G. Pridgen told WIVB, "We now have a totally different attorney general, we have a totally different climate and atmosphere and lens right now, across this world, as it deals with policing in the United States."

Horne told CNN she hopes the investigation leads to her finally receiving her pension.

"I hope that the mayor does the right thing because, like I said, no officer should go through what I've gone through for doing the right thing."