Cariol Horne, a former member of the Buffalo Police Department, will finally receive her pension after the New York State Supreme Court vacated a previous ruling that justified her termination, according to Buffalo’s WBIV.
In 2006, Officer Horne responded to a call for backup from her white colleague. Once at the scene, she saw the officer “in a rage” and placing a handcuffed black man into a chokehold, according to the New York Times. He was also punching him repeatedly, while other officers stood by and offered no assistance.
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When Horne heard the handcuffed man say that he couldn’t breathe, she stepped in, “forcibly removed” the officer and ended up in a physical altercation with her fellow officer.
Though Horne did what she felt was right, she was eventually fired in 2008 after 19 years as an officer. Per Buffalo police policy, officers need 20 years on the force to receive their full pension, and Horne was just short of that by a few months.
After nearly 14 years of fighting for her full pension, Horne received the news on Tuesday, April 13, that she would finally be able to access it. A judge ruled that she is entitled to her pension, as well as benefits and back pay, according to The Buffalo News.
Last summer, Horne spoke with CBS This Morning about a potential investigation into her firing. She states in the interview that Neil Mack, the man whose life saved that day, saying he couldn’t breathe was enough for her to intervene. “Neil Mack looked like he was about to die. So had I not stepped in he possibly could have. He was handcuffed and being choked,” she told the national news station.
The officer involved in the assault, Greg Kwiatkowski, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to four months in federal prison for “unlawful and unreasonable force,” according to CBS This Morning.
