Mike Delong suspended over vulgar comments made to woman filming police activity

Mike DeLong, a lieutenant with the Buffalo Police Department, was suspended without pay after footage emerged Monday of him harassing a local woman for filming police activity.

An internal affairs probe has also been launched into the incident, which marks the second time this month Buffalo police have faced heavy scrutiny for something caught on camera.

Social media user Ruweyda Salim, 25, shared video of the latest incident on Facebook and Twitter, where she wrote that it was filmed Sunday outside a convenience store in the city.

Footage captured on Ms. Salim’s cellphone shows 10 police officers surrounding a man standing outside the door of a 7-Eleven while several of them search him.

In the video, which has been edited, Lt. DeLong can be seen approaching the woman and then telling her that the police officers have cameras too. She responds by asking him to move away from her, prompting him to reply, “No. Move me.”

Moments later in the video, Lt. DeLong tells Ms. Salim that the person being confronted by police has drug paraphernalia and is dangerous. When she responds by calling into question the sheer number of officers involved, Lt. Delong approaches the camera and proceeds to call her a vulgar phrase containing a pair of profanities unfit for publication.

Lt. DeLong also asks Ms. Salim in the video about where she works and then tells her: “I’m going to come to your work and sit there and tape you.”

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said that Police Commission Byron Lockwood opened an investigation into the incident and suspended the officer within hours of the video being shared online.

“I fully support the commissioner’s swift actions,” Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said in a statement. “There is no place for that type of reprehensible conduct in the Buffalo Police Department and it will not be tolerated.”

The incident occurred less than a month after two members of the Buffalo Police Department were suspended over an incident that resulted in the hospitalization of a 75-year-old protester, Martin Gugino. Video of that encounter captured two members of the BPD pushing Mr. Gugino followed by him falling to the ground and hitting his head. Both of those officers have since been charged with criminal assault.