Buffalo committee questions Commissioner Macy on handling of Granville crash investigation

Acting Buffalo Police Commissioner Macy told the City Council’s Committee on Police Oversight on April 22 that he was not part of the final investigative or disciplinary decision-making in the 2024 Granville crash case and could only describe his limited, personal involvement.

Macy said he received two phone calls while serving as chief of detectives on the night in question and that the subpoenaed call records reviewed by the department showed a far larger set of communications. "There is call records in there," Macy said, noting that on April 12 alone Lieutenant Esquilin’s phone logged 195 incoming and outgoing communications and that committee staff had asked him about eight specific calls. He described two calls he remembered as focusing on whether a vehicle should be impounded and how tickets and towing should be handled.

The question-and-answer session centered on what Esquilin told Macy at the time. Macy said he was not told the subject had struck multiple vehicles and that, based on the calls he answered, he believed at the time the incident was a property-damage accident with no injuries. "I was not aware at that point that it was hit and run," Macy said.

Committee members pressed on evidence preservation. One council member said the primary and secondary officers never documented the scene, AIU (Accident Investigation Unit) was not notified, no photographs were taken and the vehicle was moved and towed based on the tow operator’s account that the vehicle smelled like alcohol. "There’s a series of mistakes, errors, negligence," the council member said, urging more accountability.

Council member Christopher Scanlon opened the session by thanking Macy for attending and praised his service, saying Macy had "gone above and beyond" and had been a steady steward for the department over the prior months.

Rasheed Wyatt told the committee he believed, based on the materials he had read, the sequence of events looked like "a cover up." Macy responded that while the agency had made missteps "from the very start," he had cooperated with internal affairs and provided a sworn statement before retirement and later spoke with media to contextualize his association with the case.

Macy explained the interplay between criminal and administrative investigations and legal limits on compelled statements, saying that Garrity-protected administrative statements may not be usable in criminal prosecutions and that sequencing an administrative inquiry to avoid jeopardizing a criminal prosecution can limit public disclosure during investigations.

On disciplinary recommendations, Macy said internal affairs functions as the fact-finding arm and that internal affairs provided lists of potential charges — in one instance approximately 19 possible charges — but the commissioner is responsible for charging decisions. Macy said he could not answer why a single charge was pursued in a particular case and could not confirm whether the commissioner received a final internal-affairs completion notice before earlier deadlines cited in case notes.

Macy told the committee his administration implemented several policy changes early in his tenure intended to avoid repeat problems, including updates to accident reporting forms (primary officers now have sole ability to complete and update digital accident reports), body-worn camera policy changes and expanded notification requirements for alleged misconduct.

The committee received and filed the item after the questions and entered related items for further consideration. No further formal disciplinary votes were taken at the hearing; the committee tabled other agenda items and adjourned.

Sources: Committee hearing transcript; direct remarks by Macy and council members during the April 22, 2026 Committee on Police Oversight meeting.