BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The sister-in-law of Erie County Sheriff Chief of Narcotics D.J. Granville, who pleaded guilty after a series of hit-and-run crashes, violated numerous policies, procedures and rules of the Buffalo Police Department when she, as a BPD lieutenant, is alleged to have given preferential treatment to her fellow law enforcement officer.
7 News has obtained a copy of the Internal Affairs report into the conduct of Lt. Lucia Esquilin, who has since been demoted to the rank of detective sergeant, and her fellow officers on the night of April 11, 2024. The investigation wrapped up in late December, just as outgoing Commissioner Al Wright and Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon were leaving office.
The report, which is more than 3,000 pages along with dozens of audio and image files, is slightly redacted but sheds new light on just what happened. Shortly before midnight — after receiving a phone call from Granville — Esquilin went to the scene on Buffalo's West Side. According to testimony that is part of the Internal Affairs file, Esquilin "instructed the primary officer, Thomas Karbowski...to respond to the originating location of the call and to work toward the final location of the striking vehicle."
Esquilin proceeded to go to Granville's location. She wrote him a traffic ticket, called to have the county-owned truck that he was driving towed and then drove him to the Hyatt Hotel. She never administered any sobriety test, even though Granville had crashed into seven different vehicles on three different city blocks.
WATCH: Internal Affairs: BPD lieutenant 'brought discredit upon the department' in her handling of Granville case
Karbowski said in a sworn statement to Internal Affairs that "based on the totality of the circumstances and had he been afforded access to all relevant information, he believes (standardized field sobriety testing) would have been appropriate. These actions directly impaired the investigation and were a primary contributing factor to the ambiguity and incompleteness of the resulting accident report."
Internal Affairs investigators filed 19 charges against Esquilin, including three that were violations of the New York State Penal Code: obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence and official misconduct. A preponderance of evidence is required for such administrative charges, whereas guilt would need to be established beyond a reasonable doubt to secure a criminal conviction. The Niagara County District Attorney, who was appointed special prosecutor in the case, did not pursue criminal charges against any BPD officers.
After a hearing, Esquilin pleaded guilty to a single administrative charge of failure to supervise, and she was demoted a single rank. She did not receive even a single day of unpaid suspension.
Karbowski suggested to investigators that Granville received preferential treatment.
"If it wasn't a friend to her or a relative, it probably would've been handled differently," Karbowski said.
Karbowski also faced Internal Affairs charges related to the incident, with investigators saying he "did not observe the striking vehicle, did not speak with or identify the driver of the striking vehicle, and did not locate or interview all involved drivers or witnesses." Karbowski was suspended without pay for four days.
Esquilin outranked Karbowski and the other BPD officers on the scene.
In interviews with investigators, both Esquilin and current BPD Interim Commissioner Craig Macy admit they spoke at length the night of the hit-and-run crashes. Esquilin called Macy, who was then chief of detectives, to get his opinion on what to do. Both said Macy advised Esquilin to issue a ticket and have the truck impounded. It's unclear how forthcoming Esquilin was about what had really happened. Macy retired before coming back to serve as new Mayor Sean Ryan's interim police commissioner.
The report also details open records requests made to the Erie County Sheriff's Office that were ignored or not completely complied with, and it reveals that Undersheriff William Cooley was notified of Granville's actions at 6 a.m. the following morning. It's unclear when he notified Sheriff John Garcia, who has denied allegations of a cover-up.
Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick said he was disappointed that the Sheriff's Office wasn't cooperative.
"I haven't seen the report yet, but if that is true, then I am surprised and a bit saddened," Hardwick told 7 News. "I know that the officers that were there that night did not cooperate with the D.A. I would have hope that our Office of the Sheriff would have cooperated fully."
Granville eventually pleaded guilty to charges of Reckless Driving and Leaving the Scene of a Property Damage Only Accident and was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and a fine.
In January, 7 News learned that Granville will pay Erie County over $75,000 in connection with the hit-and-run case. According to the settlement release and agreement obtained by 7 News, Granville will pay a total of $75,881 using a combination of vacation time and garnishment of wages. If he is no longer employed by the county, he will be responsible for continuing payments until the full amount has been paid.
