The Onondaga County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that it has asked the District Attorney’s Office to determine whether a high school football coach, an assistant coach and a Buffalo Public Schools official should be charged with filing a false report.
As reported by The Buffalo News, the request comes a day after Steve McDuffie claimed he was "assaulted" by a deputy officer Saturday during the second quarter of the Class AA state semifinal between Bennett and Christian Brothers Academy at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
Sheriff’s officials said they had handed over evidence to the DA’s office and signed affidavits regarding the incident. In a statement, Onondaga County sheriff Toby Shelley said Thursday that the affidavits from McDuffie, assistant coach Djuan Todd and BPS Assistant Superintendent of Athletics Michael House are not consistent with the evidence.
The reported incident took place after Bennett was called for three consecutive penalties while trailing 14-0. In the statement, Shelley said a Cicero-North Syracuse administrator asked the sheriff deputies to intervene and escort House and McDuffie back to the sideline.
In body camera footage, two sheriffs can be seen taking the field. As they’re walking, one of the sheriffs turns on his camera, while the sheriff who McDuffie claims “assaulted” him doesn’t turn his on until nearly two minutes later.
Based on video and audio of the uninvolved sheriff, his partner approached McDuffie first, and it’s unclear if he touched the coach, but a Bennett assistant is overheard saying, “Don’t touch him, I got him, I got him, I got him. Don’t touch him.” The involved sheriff would then tell McDuffie, “You got to leave.”
“After reviewing the voluntary sworn written affidavits of Steve McDuffie, Michael House, and Djuan Todd, gathering all information regarding the interaction with the deputy and Coach McDuffie, including multiple videos, it has been determined that the signed affidavits do not match the evidence,” Shelley said.
“Therefore, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office will turn over their signed affidavits and all evidence, including police reports to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office will request the District Attorney’s Office to review the affidavits and evidence to determine if they will proceed with criminal prosecution of the two coaches and the Assistant Athletic Director for filing a false report.”
McDuffie, Todd, and House filed a police report Monday with the internal affairs division, Clevis Murray of The Buffalo News reported.
“I watched all videos, including deputy body worn cameras, CNS security cameras and game day telecast videos from the NFHS Network,” Shelley said in a statement Wednesday.
“At no point during the deputy’s duties did either deputy become aggressive, abusive or assault Coach McDuffie.
“The body worn cameras alone show the professionalism that is expected from our police deputies and further shows de-escalation of a situation from a coach and staff acting aggressively. The video shows the accused deputy entering the field until he exited; the coach was never assaulted or harassed.
“Our deputies that evening did an excellent job maintaining the peace in a stressful situation.”
Asked about the later start to the second sheriff’s body camera, Tom Newton, Onondaga County Sheriff’s spokesperson, told The News: “Do we wish it was on a little sooner? Absolutely. Does it change the fact of what happened and what all of the other videos show? It doesn’t change the fact of what happened that evening. There was no assault.”
The footage shows a Bennett assistant coach upset that there weren’t any Black officials at the game, and at the 2:50 mark of the video, a sheriff’s deputy, who is white, tells his Black partner that one of the Tigers’ coaches claimed he “was after the Black man.”
In the footage, McDuffie looks at the White sheriff and says to the officials, “He came over to me and snatched me up ... you assumed it was the Black guy. Don’t ever put your hands on me again, OK? Don’t ever put your hands on me.”
In the video, House calls the sheriff “classless” while defending his coach. The situation eventually de-escalated, and the involved deputy left the field due to a call of a fight at the concession stand.
After both teams went to the locker room for an early halftime, the game was resumed and Bennett’s season ended in a 21-8 loss.
