Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A Rochester teen who admitted leading Buffalo Police on a chase that ended with a crash that seriously injured an officer was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, a designated Youth Part Judge, also sentenced the unidentified teen to 3 years post-release supervision. Back in June, the teen was one of four people in a vehicle with a gun at Crossman Avenue and Hemingway Street. An officer tried to stop the vehicle, but the teen drove off at a high-rate of speed eastbound toward the Town of Cheektowaga. During the pursuit, the adolescent offender continued onto Pine Ridge Road, drove through Mount Calvary Cemetery, crossed onto Harlem Road, and crashed into two vehicles and a utility pole near Mafalda Drive. The collision caused the utility pole to fall and crash through the front windshield of a responding Buffalo Police patrol vehicle.
That officer, Jonathan Negron, was rendered unconscious from the impact. He was driven by another responding Buffalo Police officer to ECMC where he was hospitalized for several weeks to undergo multiple surgeries for numerous serious physical injuries to his head and spine. Officer Negron continues to recover from those injuries.
After the collision, the adolescent offender and three other individuals ran from the vehicle, but were quickly apprehended and taken into custody. No weapons were recovered from a search of the vehicle and the surrounding area.
The adolescent offender pleaded guilty to one count of Assault on a Peace Officer, Police Officer, Firefighter or Emergency Medical Services Professional (Class "C" violent felony) and one count of Unlawful Fleeing a Police Officer in a Motor Vehicle in the Second Degree (Class "E" felony). He pleaded guilty to all counts in the indictment against him on September 22, 2021.
"Instead of stopping the vehicle to allow police to investigate, this adolescent offender sped off through the streets of Buffalo and Cheektowaga, putting the lives of everyone in his path in danger. His reckless actions caused serious injuries to a Buffalo Police officer who could have been killed by the impact of that crash. I wish Officer Jonathan Negron well in his continued recovery. I hope that he feels that justice has been served by this teenager pleading guilty to all of the charges against him and being sentenced to a term of imprisonment," said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn.
