Buffalo Police arrest local businessmen... again

Buffalo Livestock Marketing owners Russ and Ty de Cordova are the latest local business owners to have issues with the Buffalo Police Department. Earlier this fall Officer Craig Jefferson arrested business owner Mike Glick for interfering with police business after a break-in at Lynch Supply.

On Friday afternoon, October 23, as the cattle auc- tion customers were bringing in their cattle trailers, Buffalo Police Officer Craig Jefferson had pulled over an 18-wheeler on a traffic violation. According to Russ de Cordova, the police car was blocking the entrance to his sale barn and trailers were backing up on Highway 79. The business owner approached the officer to ask him to move at least the patrol car and was told by Officer Jefferson that he was “interfering with police business” and would be handcuffed and taken to jail if he did not desist.

Russ de Cordova claims the situation seems to have taken about 30 minutes. “I asked him to move his car -- he got smart with me, told me he’d take me to jail if I didn’t get out of his face. I was ten feet from him, on my own property. I told him, ‘You’ve got traffic backing up, it’s gonna cause a wreck’... and it just grew from there.” Ultimately, both Russ and his son Ty were handcuffed, threatened with a taser, taken to Centerville, and released the same day without any written charges filed.

Asked if he has filed a lawsuit, Russ de Cordova stated, “Not at this time. It was wrongfully done, and myself and my son were not treated right. We were handcuffed and taken to jail, right there in the parking lot with all my customers watching, and we were gone from work for three hours while people were bringing in their cattle. My other son (Cody) handled things there, but ... it’s just the fact that one police officer... Well, something’s got to be done. He’s gonna cost the City.”

No one was available for comment at the Buffalo Police Department on Tuesday morning. Mayor Royce Dawkins was contacted and stated that, under advisement from the City Attorney, he was not at liberty to discuss the matter beyond confirming that “an investigation is going on.”