The County Council meeting began at 6 p.m. on July 21. Councilwoman Schauerman was absent. During public comments, Cyndi Treiber condemned the excessive use of force against those arrested in Erie County and subpar medical care after arrests. Constituent Jen Paulson added to Treiber’s statements, discussing a $1.1 million settlement between Erie County and an inmate who was allegedly beaten by corrections officers. “That settlement was paid through the county’s insurance carrier, but insurance costs are still costs taxpayers absorb through premiums, and no dollar figure captures the harm done to that man,” Paulson said. Malcolm Pulliam tied this treatment back to Keven Sparks, a man who was arrested after he was struck with the police vehicle, tased, and punched repeatedly, as well as the death of Marchello Woodard at the hands of his parole officer last year. “I’m willing to meet with anybody to create a policy to create change because we can’t keep going through this same cycle of what we went through,” Pullium said.
County Executive Vogel announced in her report that Mayor Devlin, Bishop John Crosby, Warden Holman, and herself met to discuss Sparks and police conduct. “We are trying to work through some of the issues happening in the community,” Vogel said…