Tuesday News Brief

A man has now been indicted after his 1-year-old daughter ingested drugs and died last month. 32-year-old Dillon Brito of Rochester is charged with manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence after his 13-month-old daughter died on January 30th. Police said she was found unresponsive at the Chatham Gardens apartments after swallowing a mixture of cocaine and fentanyl. According to a felony complaint, Brito had taken fentanyl before taking a nap with the toddler on a couch. When he woke up, he found the girl unresponsive. Brito took his daughter downstairs and got help from two maintenance workers who performed CPR, according to the complaint. Brito allegedly pulled a blue paper bag used to package drugs out of his daughter’s mouth and tried to hide it. According to the complaint, Brito initially said it was just a small piece of white paper — only to later admit it was blue packaging that he used to store drugs.

 

 

31-year-old Damon Singleton-Spencer of Lockport has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. This followed an investigation into a report that an individual had uploaded 184 files of suspected inappropriate images to a cloud storage application. They were later traced to Perez, who had been previously convicted for Endangering the Welfare of Child. If convicted of the new charges, Perez faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

 

 

The murder retrial of Timothy Williams is set to continue in a Monroe County courtroom today with more jury selection. Williams is accused of killing 14-year-old Wendy Jerome on Thanksgiving Day in Rochester in 1984. Williams was previously on trial back in December, but it ended due to what the judge ruled was jury misconduct. He was not arrested until 2020 when DNA evidence connected him to the case.

 

As expected, members of the state Legislature have voted down Congressional district maps created by the Independent Redistricting Commission. Some lawmakers raised concerns about what they called constitutional defects in the lines the IRC came up with. It’ll now be up to the Legislature to create new maps with the hope of voting on them by the end of the week. Governor Hochul has already said she’ll stay out of the redistricting process.

 

Buffalo police have released body camera footage showing what led up to an officer-involved shooting. When law enforcement arrived at the scene of a call on Reed Street about a man with a gun on Saturday, they saw 58-year-old Edward Holmes had a shotgun and he later fired a round from that weapon. Two officers fired back towards Holmes and he was killed. The state Attorney General’s Office is now looking into the incident and the officers remain on administrative leave.

 

 

 

There’s a new update regarding the man who was killed in a hit and run crash while clearing snow off his car on Losson Road in Cheektowaga last January. Cheektowaga Police say the driver allegedly involved has been arrested and is identified as 40-year-old Matthew Al-thoff of Amherst. The driver had allegedly fled the scene before officers responded, according to investigators. Police say the driver had been traveling westbound when it struck the 42-year-old male who was taken by ambulance to ECMC where he passed away. Al-thoff has been charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident without reporting and has been remanded to the Erie County Holding center.

 

Leap Day is coming up on Thursday, and Tops Friendly Markets is offering folks born on February 29th a sweet treat. The grocery chain says people who provide a valid ID or birth certificate proving they are a leapling can get a free four pack of Tops cupcakes. This offer will be good through March 2nd at all participating Tops stores. To find a location in your area, head to topsmarkets.com.

 

 

A consultant is now working to help oversee construction of a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo News reports Developments by JEM will help the NFL franchise and the stadium’s general contractor ensure that women-and minority-owned businesses are hired to help build the facility. The one-point-seven-billion dollar project has already started and the state and Erie County are providing $850 million in public funds. The new stadium in Orchard Park should be open for the 2026 season.

 

The red-hot Buffalo Sabres will be in the Sunshine State tonight as they look to pick up a fourth straight win. The Sabres are set to battle the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena. Buffalo last played Sunday when they defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout and boosted their point total this season to 58. Face-off this evening is scheduled for 7:00.

 

 

 

There’s a new COVID-19 vaccine coming out for the winter. The FDA will decide this spring on which variant of the virus should be primarily targeted in the winter dose. Like flu shots, the COVID vaccine is expected to require annual updates to stay current against emerging variants. And today in history in 2021, the U.S. gave authorization to the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the third COVID vaccine to be authorized and the first one-dose immunization.