BUFFALO, N.Y. — A federal court jury concluded its sixth day of deliberations on Friday, without reaching a verdict in the trial of a Buffalo Police officer, accused of violating the civil rights of three men through the alleged use of excessive force.
Jurors got the case on Feb 14, in which Officer Corey Krug faces three counts of deprivation of civil rights and one count of falsifying a report in relation to three separate incidents in 2010, 2011 and 2014.
In a comment to attorneys before jurors returned to the courtroom for a final time on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara remarked that over the course of his 31 years on the bench, this was perhaps the longest time he’d had a jury out for what he called a “relatively short case.”
After hearing the testimony of 22 witnesses during the three-week-long trial, jurors have now deliberated for 24 hours over the course of six days.
Krug had also been named in three civil rights lawsuits alleging excessive force since 2010.
However, it was an incident involving Devin Ford, outside a nightclub on Chippewa Street during the early morning hours of Thanksgiving 2014, which sparked an investigation and lead to the criminal charges for which he now stands trial.
Their encounter, captured by a television news photographer, shows Krug striking Ford repeatedly with a nightstick after pushing him against a car and forcefully taking him to the ground.
Since Tuesday, the only exhibits or testimony that jurors have asked to review have been about the encounter with Ford, and not the other two individuals that Krug is accused of using excessive force against in 2010 and 2011.
On Friday, jurors asked to have re-read to them the testimony of Krug’s partner during a special detail formed to mind the bar crowds along Chippewa, for what has traditionally been described as the “biggest party night of the year” in Buffalo.
Officer Anniel Vidal and Krug had been partners together in the BPD public housing unit, before being paired up for the Chippewa detail.
According to testimony, Ford was among a group of individuals who had been involved in an altercation and were commanded to leave by police, but that Ford failed to do so.
Vidal testified that despite being on top of Ford while trying to handcuff him, he couldn’t recall Krug hitting Ford with his nightstick at the same time as seen in the video.
Earlier on Friday, jurors were polled to see if they’d seen another local story which broke last night, unrelated to this case, but which also involved brutality.
Four jurors said they were aware of the story, but vowed it wouldn’t have any impact on their deliberations.
When they return to duty on Monday, jurors have asked to have the testimony of retired Buffalo Police Officer James Curtain read back to them. Curtain had testified to the training provided to Krug as a member of the police force, including “use of force” training.
In their note to the judge, they specifically asked for a portion of Curtain’s testimony regarding an “impact weapon”, which Krug’s nightstick has been referred to as during the trial, specifically by his lawyers who claim Ford was trying to grab when Krug moved in on him.
During his closing argument, Krug’s attorney Terrence Connors told jurors that an officer simply cannot allow a subject to gain possession of any of their impact weapons, going so far as to say it was a “fight the officer has to win” because otherwise “bad things will happen.”
Prosecutors, in their opening statements back in January, said that in each instance against the individuals they referred to as his “victims”, Krug used excessive force, hitting the three men with either his nightstick or flashlight, causing physical injury and that none of them fought back.
They described him as "a bully with a badge."
Krug is an 18 year veteran of the BPD, who had been honored by the department several times, including once for pulling a person from a burning car.
He has been suspended from his job, with pay, since being indicted in August 2015.