Former Buffalo police officer ordered to do community service for allegedly hitting officer during blizzard looting

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A former Buffalo police officer was ordered to do 50 hours of community service for hitting an officer who was conducting a looting investigation during the Christmas blizzard of 2022, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said Monday.

Cariol Horne, 57, interfered with police officers when they attempted to arrest two women who were allegedly looting from a store on Bailey Avenue in Buffalo just before 11 p.m. on Christmas Day 2022.

Prosecutors said Horne “prevented the officer from performing his official duties by means of intimidation, physical force and interference” by arguing with officers, pointing her finger in their face and hitting him in the chest.

In May, Horne was found guilty of one count of obstructing governmental administration. On top of the community service, she was given one year of conditional discharge. She originally faced a harassment charge, which she was found not guilty of, as well as a disorderly conduct charge, which was dismissed.

Horne, a former BPD officer, was fired in 2006 after she tried to stop her partner from choking a suspect. In 2020, she became the namesake for ‘Cariol’s Law,’ which protects BPD officers who step in if they feel excessive force is being used. She won back her pension in 2021 after the State Supreme Court vacated a previous ruling that upheld her firing.

The blizzard, which lasted multiple days, brought multiple feet of snow and wind gusts of up to 70 mph in Buffalo’s metro area. A total of 47 people were killed, most of them in Buffalo.