Weekend News Brief

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation has released its special report on the death of 35 year old Brendon Burns who was shot and killed by Rochester police officers and Monroe County deputies back in March. The AG determined that the shooting was justified and the officers acted in accordance with their training.  Burns left his house on Milburn St while officers were investigating another property.  He behaved suspiciously and then began running from officers who had approached him.  He appeared to point a gun at officers who fired at him and missed before he returned to his home and retrieved a backpack before running through backyards in the neighborhood.  He assembled a shotgun from inside his backpack and pointed it at pursuing officers who shot him.  He was pronounced dead on the scene and officers found the shotgun, a box of ammunition and a knife at the scene. 

A pair from Buffalo have been indicted for stealing COVID relief money.  23 year old Analyse Spencer and 31 year old Damone Hennings were indicted on charges of Mail Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft. In September of 2020 it is alleged that they stole social security information from other people to submit 10 applications for COVID relief from the State Labor Department.  They were awarded over 360 thousand dollars in debit cards with Federal Funds that they were not entitled to.  If convicted they could face between 2 and 20 years.

The Town of Bethany has declared a State of Emergency for the next 30 days due to the water shortages that have been going on for most of the fall and now into the winter.  Roughly 10 residence and several large farms are without sufficient water and have had to haul up to 60,000 gallons a day from other counties.  Also, the fire department doesn’t have enough water to reliably fight fires.  The state of emergency will go for 30 days and can be renewed.  The state of emergency will give the town broader powers to deal with the drought conditions.

For the second time, members of the Rochester City Council are being condemned by the Rochester Police Locust Club.  This time over an officer involved shooting on Christmas Eve.  An officer was in pursuit of 46 year old Todd Novick when he produced a gun and pointed it at officers who then shot him.  Upon further inspection the gun was found to be a replica that looked just like a real pistol.  The City Council members put out a statement saying the Police Officers killed a man for running with a “toy gun” and the Police Accountability Board needed to review Rochester Police Department Policies.  This was then echoed by community groups that assembled on the steps of the Rochester City Hall.  The Police Department released the body camera footage and the Locust Club said that the City Council’s statement was unsupported by “facts or the law” and that their language was “misleading and inflammatory”.  They also said the City Council should focus on the “over 50 senseless murders of community members this year alone”.