BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Buffalo police lieutenant has been suspended, and the department has launched an investigation after video shows the lieutenant calling a bystander a "disrespectful little f***ing c****."
Lt. Michael Delong has been suspended without pay, and Commissioner Byron Lockwood has ordered an immediate investigation after a video of Delong's comments surfaced on social media on Monday.
The video, recorded and shared on Twitter by user @ruweyda_salim, shows a handful of officers in a 7-Eleven parking lot. The woman recording the video counted 10 officers on hand to arrest the man, who she said was "on drugs."
Delong claimed police responded because the man was "violent" and was holding a weight in his hand that could be used as a weapon. The woman who shared the video denies the police's claim that the man was dangerous or holding a weapon, and told Delong that she "wasn't going to go near him."
"Mhmm. You're a disrespectful little f***ing c***, that's what you are," Delong said in response.
Online records show Delong made over $120,000 in 2018 and more than $96,000 last year.
You can watch the full video below. Warning: The video contains explicit language.
— رويدا سالم (@ruweyda_salim) June 29, 2020
"As soon as Commissioner Lockwood became aware of the incident, he immediately opened an investigation and suspended the officer involved," Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said in a statement regarding the incident. "I fully support the commissioner's swift actions. There is no place for that type of reprehensible conduct in the Buffalo Police Department and it will not be tolerated."
The suspension comes weeks after two Buffalo police officers were charged with assault after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground as they cleared a public square of Black Lives Matter protesters.
This story was originally published by WKBW in Buffalo.
