Bills fan gets $1.1M settlement after assault by sheriff's deputy

Erie County will provide $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a former University at Buffalo student whose civil rights were violated when a sheriff’s deputy beat him outside a Buffalo Bills game in 2017 and threw him in jail.

The money will go to Nicholas Belsito, who now lives in North Carolina, and the lawyers who filed the case against Deputy Kenneth P. Achtyl, his partner James W. Flowers and Sheriff Timothy B. Howard.

As Howard watched, an Orchard Park jury convicted Achtyl in 2019 of reckless assault, official misconduct and falsifying business records after body camera video of the unprovoked attack was played time and again.

Achtyl and Flowers were part of the regular security squad patrolling stadium grounds. As tailgate parties raged before a game against the New England Patriots, Belsito approached Achtyl with a question but was repeatedly told to "beat it."

Read more: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/bills-fan-gets-1-1m-settlement-after-assault-by-sheriffs-deputy/article_7d40e404-520a-11ec-b561-bfee5d2e61f6.html