Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - More calls for answers come from local leaders into the death of 56-year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Burmese refugee who was dropped off at a Tim Hortons on Niagara Street in Buffalo by Border Patrol agents nearly two weeks ago, only to be found dead five days later.
Shah Alam was dropped off at the the closed coffee shop in the Riverside neighborhood back on Feb. 19 by Border Patrol agents after it was deemed he's not eligible for deportation by Customs. This after they had picked him up from the Erie County Holding Center earlier that day.
It wasn't until that following Tuesday that Shah Alam was discovered dead in Downtown Buffalo, just outside KeyBank Center along Perry Street.
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During a Tuesday meeting of the Buffalo Common Council, all nine lawmakers unanimously approved a resolution calling for an investigation into Shah Alam's death. While the Buffalo Police Department has released a detailed timeline into their involvement with Shah Alam, lawmakers hope to get more details into exactly what happened from all levels of government.
"There's so much information, and I think misinformation that is out there right now that began last week, when he was dropped off at Niagara and Ontario Street in my Councilmanic district," said North District Councilman Joe Golombek. "Prior to his arrest, he was a resident of my district. I would just like to know what really happened, because there were mistakes that happened, and his family should not have to deal with the tragic death of him. And I don't want anyone else to deal with the same thing that these people are going through right now."
Golombek felt a resolution such as this was the best avenue to put out a call for action, and he is happy that he got full support from his fellow Council members.
"I want to push the fact that I'm looking for the truth. Not a narrative, but the truth as to what happened. And if somebody made a mistake - I don't care who it is - that mistake just simply needs to be rectified so that this does not happen again," Golombek said.
While Golombek understands that an investigation into Shah Alam's death and the circumstances around it now has to come from federal agents, that's why the Council will be using its bully pulpit power to seek those proper answers. It's a process he and other lawmakers don't usually use very often.
"I do think that this is very, very important. I would like to know what happened, and I would hope that the federal government would get involved," Golombek added. "I don't have anything in this. ... I want the truth to come out so that we can find out how did he ask, if he didn't speak English, to get to Niagara and Ontario Street. There's just so many questions when I talk to constituents over the past week. I was at a few block clubs since last week, and people have questions, and I said, 'I have questions.' And I've been able to ask the Buffalo Police Department to get some answers, but they're limited to what they can tell me as well."
"The key for me is this was a tragedy that could have been avoided, and should have been avoided. And I want to make sure that no family ever has to go through what his family is going through right now."
While Golombek will not speculate any further into what happened in Shah Alam's death, he does wish the Border Patrol agents wouldn't have given him the courtesy of dropping him off at the Tim Hortons.
"I wish they would have dropped him off from the Holding Center. And maybe the family would have picked him up or eventually found him nearer to where they were living. But once again, I just don't really know what happened. I don't think anybody knows what happened as of yet," Golombek said. "That's what this resolution is simply hoping for: To find out what happened, where was the mistake, who failed him, and how do we rectify this?"