Suit pits police officers in city, Cheektowaga

[WNYresident]

by Lou Michel
News Staff Reporter


A Buffalo police officer is fighting for his financial survival against a Cheektowaga police officer.
Decorated Buffalo Officer Thomas E. Wiesmore says Cheektowaga Officer Dawn M. Kwiatkowski behaved recklessly, causing an accident that left him with career-ending spinal injuries. He also claims her superiors ignored important information in the official accident report.
As a result, Wiesmore, 38, claims the accident report makes him look like the bad guy because he was driving a dark-colored car when Kwiatkowski, who was on duty, slammed into his vehicle at 3 a.m. July 4, 2008, as he was driving home from work.

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Why would the tax payer be on the hook for anything at all?

The "police" union would be on the hook not the tax payer.

[tgace]

A police officer is a Town employee. The Town gets sued.

[WNYresident]

But the union is the business supplying the service.

If the local security company has a officer do something that can be sued for the security company is liable not the town they work in. The union sets the hiring/firing rules, the prices for security services and so forth.

[dtwarren]

The union does not set the hiring and firing rules that is established by the Civil Service Law. Even in the scenario you described since the officer was under the direction and control of the town and acting as its agent the town would stil be liable.

[WNYresident]

The union does not set the hiring and firing rules that is established by the Civil Service Law. Even in the scenario you described since the officer was under the direction and control of the town and acting as its agent the town would stil be liable.

Don't help them my property taxes are high enough as they are. If a group of town residents can not go to a board meeting and say "your fired" you don't work for the town you work for the union.

[WNYresident]

Does the union who supplies the security service have an organizational name?

[dtwarren]

The plaintiff in this action has a very high burden, he must show that the officer acted with gross negligence not just the level of negligence required in your run of the mill auto cases because the officer was operating an authorized emergency vehicle: http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/...569.34595.html

[Frank Broughton]

Don't help them my property taxes are high enough as they are. If a group of town residents can not go to a board meeting and say "your fired" you don't work for the town you work for the union.

I agree - it is a joke what these unions get away with - a joke on us!

[mikenold]

Don't help them my property taxes are high enough as they are. If a group of town residents can not go to a board meeting and say "your fired" you don't work for the town you work for the union.

Unfortunately for the taxpayer, we pay for not only the salary but the benefits that include not only the benefits enjoyed by the Town employee but also the insurance that covers the Town owned vehicle that the Town employee drives during work.

Residents elect council members and supervisors that carry out the "will of the people". Right?

[tgace]

Don't help them my property taxes are high enough as they are. If a group of town residents can not go to a board meeting and say "your fired" you don't work for the town you work for the union.

Name me any governmental system.anywhere, anytime, where the people could do that. I seem to recall from grade school a term called "representative government". Granted that this is theory rather than practice, but those board members are supposed to "represent" those residents. Unions are supposed to simply be barganing units that negotiate contracts for the whole group vs. individual employment contracts. They have no management, or supervisory powers over the members.

Who signs the cops paychecks? Thats the deep pocket a lawyer is going to go after.

[unioncop]

res u r so blinded by your hatred of unions u loose site of the truth and the real issue maybe u should take a break from here for a while and get educated on what unions do and dont do

[Save Us]

res u r so blinded by your hatred of unions u loose site of the truth and the real issue maybe u should take a break from here for a while and get educated on what unions do and dont do

Trying to find support for them as this state tanks is only going to get harder,
look at NYSUT fighting at every opportunity to have the ability to raise taxes.

How could we not be jaded and pissed off?

[unioncop]

Trying to find support for them as this state tanks is only going to get harder,
look at NYSUT fighting at every opportunity to have the ability to raise taxes.

How could we not be jaded and pissed off?

you can be pissed off but to blame the union for something it does not control is just plain stupid

[WNYresident]

res u r so blinded by your hatred of unions u loose site of the truth and the real issue maybe u should take a break from here for a while and get educated on what unions do and dont do

Go listen to yourself I don't hate unions.. I'm not happy with the amount of taxes we pay..

[dtwarren]

The bottom line is it takes two to tango, the unions and our elected officials representing management to reach a contract. One can piss and moan of the unions apparent grasp of the political process but that is only because the union membership realize and understand that they have an interest in the process and how it works. Until such a time that the average taxpayer does the same the status quo will remain, just look at the turn out for the last election and you can see how little the average taxpayer thinks of their interest in the process.