BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKWB) — Five people have been charged in connection with the alleged assault of a Buffalo police officer attempting to break up an unlawful gathering Saturday.
Police said Carlos Martinez Rosario, 40, of Buffalo, was charged with the following:
- One count of assault on a police officer
- One count of resisting arrest
- One count of obstruction of governmental administration
- One count of inciting to riot
- One count of unlawful assembly
- Two counts of disorderly conduct
Four other people, 28-year-old Graciela Sexto, 39-year-old Maria Martinez, 43-year-old Pedro DeJesus and 53-year-old Enrique Sexto, all from Buffalo, were charged with disorderly conduct.
According to Buffalo police, officers attempted to break up an unlawful gathering on the 500 block of Niagara Street on Saturday when a crowd allegedly interfered with the officers.
One man allegedly placed his hands on an officer before grabbing another officer's duty belt, which secures the officer's gun and taser, and removed a magazine from the belt. Officers handcuffed the man while the crowd continued to interfere.
One officer was allegedly struck in the head with a bottle and was treated for a concussion, and another officer suffered a broken hand. Both officers were treated and released from ECMC.
Among those five people was La Flor bakery manager Pedro DeJesus.
DeJesus told 7 News that customers flooded the location after the parade ended and Buffalo Police Department officers and BPD leadership arrived on scene and instructed the bakery's owner to close.
"My uncle told the captain, sorry, this is my restaurant. I'm not closing. As soon as he told him that, he said, lock him up. His ex-girl was asking questions on what's going on. Locked her up for asking questions on what's going on, for what you locking us up for? And took his daughter to jail too," DeJesus said.
According to DeJesus, he then began speaking to others near the bakery, disagreeing with how a BPD captain was interacting with the bakery owner. He said that is when he was placed in handcuffs.
"He's going to lock us all up this and that for me speaking my mind to my friends, he locks me up and throws me against the wall they threw my face, smacked my face against the wall, slammed me against the wall, locked me up," DeJesus said.
Video DeJesus provided shows him being taken away in handcuffs. He said he was never read his Miranda rights.
DeJesus also questioned why police attention was directed at the bakery.
"All the police presence was in front of our restaurant facing us, watching us. Why does that keep happening? So it's like you guys that keep attacking us for no reason when it shouldn't be when we're not having no problems," DeJesus said.
WATCH: Five people charged after alleged assault of a Buffalo police officer on Niagara Street
DeJesus is calling for the release of body camera footage.
"Show the body camera. The body cameras are going to show the proof of everything that really happened that day," DeJesus said.
DeJesus described the interaction as unnecessarily aggressive.
"What he did was out of hand. It was out of hand for him to even come out," DeJesus said.
"Learned how to talk to us. Things could have went different, but the way he came out just so aggressive, so angry, like we did something to him when we didn't do nothing to him," DeJesus said.
