New York Cop Fired For Police Brutality May Get His Job Back

A lot has changed in the law enforcement space in New York State over the last few years. As citizen protests have risen for more accountability for both elected officials and police agencies, we've seen some departments make changes to their policies to try to improve things.

While things aren't perfect by any means, some say progress is being made as police departments take a deeper look at ensuring officers are properly trained and held accountable for being public servants.

In New York State's second-largest city, we've seen some of that happen, especially when it comes to accountability. While Buffalo is still struggling to appoint and keep an active police accountability board, department leadership has been working to clean up what some have called a history of bad practices over the last few decades.

There have been several cases of Buffalo Police Officers acting badly, and most of the time, they had gotten away with it. However, this was not the case a few years ago when the BPD took a rare move and dismissed an officer after he used unnecessary force against an innocent Buffalo woman.

Back in 2020, now-former Buffalo Police Officer Kevin Murphy used excessive profanity and pepper sprayed Lakisha Neal as she sat handcuffed in a Buffalo Police vehicle.

After this event, which was captured on a body camera, Murphy was fired from his job by then-BPD Commissioner Byron Lockwood. At his hearing, which is required by the police union contract, the hearing officer agreed that he should be terminated, and that was it for Officer Murphy.

Or so we thought.

Now it seems that, after a ruling by New York State Supreme Court Judge Amy Martoche, Kevin Murphy is legally entitled to have his job back protecting the citizens of Buffalo.

The Buffalo News details information from the court ruling, which ultimately says the original hearing did not consider other witness testimony, including testimony from a police training expert.

It appears that even though Ms. Neal was assaulted, pepper sprayed, arrested, and charged with multiple false crimes that were dismissed for lack of evidence, Supreme Court Judge Martoche thinks the officer in question did nothing wrong.

Officials from the city have told the Buffalo News that they are looking at every legal option to prevent Murphy from becoming a cop again, but he may end up back on our streets, keeping us safe.

Best Looking State Patrol Cars In (Almost) Every State

For the past 10 years, the American Association of State Troopers has held a contest to determine which state has the best looking patrol cruiser. Nearly every state police agency submits their best photo of their sharpest patrol vehicle a chance to win the coveted cover photo on the association's annual calendar. From cop cars rushing through blizzards to vehicles on the Grand Ole Opry stage, here are this year's nominees.

Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll