Buffalo SVU Detective Richard Hy isn't known for going out of his way to win friends. He's a cop who will do what he thinks needs to be done, which isn't ideal in an era when "defund the police" is a recent memory.
And calling out the public school system in Buffalo didn't do him any favors, either.
So far, most of the evidence we've seen suggests that Hy is telling the truth, including the fact that more than half of the over 17,000 calls to 911 since 2021 are unclassified, including at least two high-profile incidents.
But the former district attorney of Erie County, New York, says that there's nothing to the allegations:
More than a year removed from his role as Erie County’s district attorney, John J. Flynn has still followed the recent accusations against Buffalo Public Schools and law enforcement by Buffalo Police Detective Richard Hy. Flynn is skeptical of Hy’s claims. He takes exception to the implication that his office was involved in any cover-ups involving crimes against children, or knew about any.
On the Unsubscribe podcast, Hy accused the school district of obstructing investigations by the District Attorney’s Office.
In an interview Friday, the former top prosecutor in the county noted that Hy’s accusations of “years” of cover-ups concerning crimes involving schoolchildren would imply that Flynn was involved, or at least aware of wrongdoing. Flynn strongly denied the claims Hy made on the podcast. He cautioned that a sometimes slow, deliberate process does not mean that an investigation is being stonewalled. He said the Buffalo school district had always been cooperative with law enforcement.
“The first narrative is that this has been going on for years, that for years and years there’s been a cover-up by the Buffalo school district and tangentially in law enforcement, as well, which would fall under my watch,” Flynn said. “That, I categorically deny. That narrative is not true.”
The former district attorney, who now works for Buffalo law firm Lippes Mathias, explained that schools – in their nature and by design – protect the information of their students, the overwhelming majority of whom are minors. That can add extra steps and significantly slow evidence collection, he said, which might seem laborious for police detectives eager to move an investigation forward.
“Does law enforcement over the years get frustrated with that kind of mantra?” Flynn said about student identity protections. “Yeah, sometimes, but at the end of the day, we always worked it out.”
Most of what transpired honestly sounds more like Flynn trying to justify things like the schools deleting video of alleged criminal actions, including sexual assault, rather than actually admitting outright that it happens.
He then goes on to try and explain that most people don't understand how investigations involving minors should work, which is probably fair when talking to someone like you or me.
Hy, however, has been an SVU detective for the last couple of years. I'd imagine he's familiar with these kinds of things.
Now, because of his role as the DA covering Buffalo, it's easy to look at his words and think, "Well, he knows what he's talking about, I suppose."
One would be wrong to do so, though.
After all, as district attorney, John Flynn was accused of keeping an innocent man in prison after his personnel believed the man to be innocent. The attorneys involved in looking into an old case, both well-respected in the office, were convinced of the man's innocence. Flynn didn't care.
Flynn later left his role just months before the 2024 elections to join a high-powered law firm as a partner, where he then went on to facilitate an "alliance" with a lobbying firm.
In 2022, Flynn's office filed only misdemeanor charges on an allegation of sexual assault at a Buffalo private school, claiming that prosecutors didn't feel they could win a felony case.
In other words, we've got the distinct possibility of Flynn failing to prosecute sexual assault to the fullest extent possible, his efforts to keep a potentially innocent man in prison, and his actions of leaving office to become the epitome of a slimy lawyer.
And this is the man we're supposed to trust over an SVU detective who stands to lose a lot by stepping up like he did?
Plus, while I can't get into details, I've spoken with one of Hy's friends from that "Unsubscribe Podcast," Nic (aka The Fat Electrician) about the mountains of evidence they've accumulated since first going public with the allegations.
Maybe it's just me, but a longtime Democrat who leaves the district attorney's office high and dry after potentially leaving an innocent man in prison and failing to prosecute sexual assault charges isn't the most trustworthy source on the planet.
Allegedly.
That's how it looks to me, anyway.
Especially when one looks at what at least one parent reported in April when the allegations first broke:
Ed Speidel joined WBEN on Monday morning.
"I am thankful that that Detective [Richard Hy] came forward. The district has a history of covering up. I deal with a lot of special ed parents and we have a lot of problems in Special Ed where students are placed in improper classrooms. This doesn't surprise me one bit."
...Speidel said over the last four years he has attended almost every Buffalo School Board meeting. And every month, he said, a parent brings a legitimate complaint to the board. But, in his words, the district stonewalls.
"I know of a mom who reported her young child was assaulted by a substitute teacher and the district will not give the teacher's name, so that the mom can press charges. It's disturbing the lack of transparency that comes out of Buffalo Public Schools."
In the YouTube podcast, Detective Hy said Buffalo School staff isn't saying anything, for fear of losing their jobs.
Speidel said that is 100% true. "If you speak out, you're done."
Speidel serves as president of the District Parent Coordinating Council. While he was only speaking for himself, the fact that he fills that particular role in an organization that is the independent parent organization for Buffalo Public Schools suggests there is something to what he's saying.
So we've got a DA that just screams "sleaze" to me, defending the school system and pretending a veteran police officer doesn't know how investigations work, running counter to a parent who is reporting that this is common and that even the school board is part of the stonewalling effort.
Maybe it's just me, but Johnny Boy there should probably stay out of this whole fiasco.