Former Buffalo officer who stopped fellow cop's chokehold on suspect will get pension after winning lawsuit (interview, legal)
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A former Buffalo Police officer who said she was fired for intervening when a White officer attempted to choke a Black suspect will receive her pension after winning a lawsuit on Tuesday. The New York State Supreme Court vacated a previous ruling upholding the firing of Cariol Horne, CBS Buffalo affiliate WIVB-TV reports.
In his ruling, Judge Dennis Ward wrote that "the City of Buffalo has recognized the error and has acknowledged the need to undo an injustice from the past. The legal system can at the very least be the mechanism to help justice prevail, even if belatedly."
"While the Eric Garners and the George Floyds of the world never had a chance for a 'do-over,' at least here the correction can be done," Ward wrote.
Horne gained national attention in 2006 when she said she stopped officer Greg Kwiatkowski's chokehold on Neal Mack.
"Neal Mack looked like he was about to die," Horne told "CBS This Morning" in an interview in 2020. "So had I not stepped in, he possibly could have. He was handcuffed and being choked."
She was ultimately fired in 2008, mere months before she was eligible to receive her full pension.