BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Buffalo police detective Richard Hy, who has accused Buffalo Public Schools officials of covering up abuse allegations and obstructing police investigations, made another round of accusations this weekend.
Hy made the original accusations on the Unsubscribe Podcast in April, the video has over 1 million views and over 16,000 comments. Hy previously spoke with 7 News Senior Reporter Maki Becker about why he decided to go public with his allegations. You can watch our reporting in the video player below and read more here.
He has since appeared in more national podcasts, slamming the school district for not responding quickly to his original allegations. He appeared again on the Unsubscribe Podcast and also appeared on the Black Rifle Coffee Podcast, where he made another new allegation specifically targeting teachers.
I spoke to the leader of the Buffalo teachers' union on Monday, who spoke out for the first time about these allegations.
"Anytime some accusation of child abuse surfaces, I think it should surprise anybody,” said Rich Nigro, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation.
"Something like this surfaces – any kind of allegation or accusation – then that is, that's something that we do take seriously,” explained Nigro.
Detective Hy appeared again on the Unsubscribe Podcast, where he said an alleged student rape was mishandled by multiple teachers.
“Miss blank asked, 'Is there any proof?' which is not what you ask a child when they're reporting this. The victim's friend states, 'Yes, there is a video,'” Hy described. "The end result of this investigation, thank God, was that it was determined not to be an assault. We ironed everything out.”
"Anybody who's working within a school — it's a teacher, an administrator, a teacher assistant — if you're working with children in the Buffalo Public Schools, or in that capacity anywhere, you're a mandated reporter,” Nigro said. “We are all mandated reporters, and so when something like that happens, if an accusation is made, then it would get reported.”
On the Black Rifle Coffee Podcast, Hy described how some teachers and teachers’ aides use school bathrooms for so-called “time-out” rooms.
"The Buffalo Public School will put children in the bathroom and turn off the lights and then put their foot against the door so the kid can't get out,” Hy said.
“This sort of thing, to paint anybody with that very broad brush is irresponsible and unfair,” said Nigro. “Our job is to make sure that everybody is safe – our members, teachers’ jobs — make sure that the kids are safe. We all want that."
But Detective Hy said it is happening, and he's aware because of his work as an SVU detective.
The school district sent the following statement in response to the latest allegations:
"BPS is aware of the most recent allegations made by BPD Detective Hy on podcasts recorded over the weekend. The Board of Education advised last week that it is initiating an independent external investigation, and the results will be shared publicly. Due to ongoing investigations and litigation and to not compromise the integrity of the investigation, the district will not make a comment at this time."
The Buffalo Board of Education held a special meeting on April 28 and responded to the allegations, saying it was initiating an independent external investigation. You can watch our report below.
7 News took a closer look at two cases that Hy highlighted in the original podcast. You can watch the report below and read more here.
