Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A legislative investigation is underway into an incident last April involving the Erie County Sheriff's Chief of Narcotics, who is accused of hitting several parked vehicles on Buffalo's West Side. Daniel "D.J." Granville was never charged, though Erie County paid about $60,000 in damage claims.
There are many layers to this, from the City of Buffalo to Erie County, in terms of whether appropriate action was taken.
"As they say, the cover-up is often worse than the crime," said political analyst Ken Kruly with WBEN on Monday.
He says there is fallout for both Erie County and the City of Buffalo.
"The police report was written by Buffalo Police. It indicated that nothing serious happened. And then there are a variety of people who approved the settlements. But we need to know more about what they knew and when they knew it," Kruly said.
He added the Buffalo Police Department and the Erie County Sheriff should have known about it.
"The police report was signed by a Lieutenant, who is Daniel Granville's sister- in-law. In addition, the sheriff should have known. He should have made sure it was reported properly."
As for the settlements, the payments were approved by lawmakers in November, and no one ever looked into what they were voting on.
"This goes back to what did they know?" said Kruly. "If they were looking at a police report and it was described as just an accident, then they had bad information. We really don't know the timeline for everything to come to a conclusion. If the people in county government were fed false information, based on the police report, it would affect how they voted. Otherwise, payments are made every day for various things in the county and they are processed without a whole lot of attention."
News of the incident came to light last week after Charlie Specht of WGRZ-TV broke the story.
Kruly pointed to the timing of this with the Mayor's race coming up this year.
"Reports that I've read say that Granville and his family were major contributors to various political candidates, including Mayor Chris Scanlon. It could have some political impact," he said. "It's still early but there could be consequences. The sheriff is also up for re-election. At the moment, he is not facing any opposition. But in fairness, it needs to play itself out."
Kruly follows the local political scene. He is an author at PoliticsandStuff.com.