Category: PostNews

BATAVIA, N.Y. (WIVB) — Batavia Police are reporting the arrest of a man they charged with first-degree rape for a 2000 incident.

Police tell News 4, Roger K. Brinkman allegedly forcibly raped a woman who was 14 at the time.

Brinkman remains in jail following his arraignment in Batavia City Court.

He was due back in court Thursday at 9 a.m.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A representative of Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) says a nine-year-old brought a stun gun onto a school bus Thursday morning.

Buffalo police responded to Lakeview Avenue around 8:30 a.m. after the student was found to have the weapon, officials say. It was confiscated by the school bus driver.

No charges will be pressed, but the student has been suspended from school. BPS says “restorative justice support will be provided to assist the student to understand the seriousness of the infraction and to help him/her with making better future decisions.”

The school district is asking parents to check the backpacks of students before they go to school.

“Weapons or threats of any kind will not be tolerated, and use of such will impede a student’s education negatively,” a representative of the school says.

AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — Amherst police say all town department phone lines are currently experiencing an outage.

This includes the number for the Amherst Police Department. Despite this, people can still call 911.

It’s not clear when service will be restored. News 4 will provide more information when it’s available.

ASHFORD, N.Y. (WIVB) — An Ashford man faces multiple gun charges following a verbal altercation at the Springville Walmart.

The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office says 57-year-old Stanley McCarty Sr. fired off a gun from his car in the direction of individuals involved in the altercation.

Officials say the “altercation ensued” into Cattaraugus County at Route 219 and Schwartz Road, where McCarty fired the gun.

According to the Sheriff’s office, there were no injuries, and authorities took McCarty into custody with no issues.

McCarty is charged with second-degree and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment.

He is currently in the Cattaraugus County Jail with no bail after his arraignment.

HINSDALE, N.Y. (WIVB) — Four people have been charged with burglary after New York State police say they broke into a motel in Cattaraugus County.

According to police, Joshua Fernandes, 47; Erika Bulkeley, 28; Charlene Bulkeley, 49 and Edward Bulkeley, 30 broke into the Moonlight Motel on State Route 16 in Hinsdale. While there, police say they forcibly entered a room and removed items.

In addition to the second-degree burglary charge each person faces, Fernandes was additionally charged with tampering with physical evidence.

All were arraigned in Allegany Town Court and released on their own recognizance. They’ll be back in court next month.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Newly revealed documents confirm the consulting firm hired by New York State to look into the Bills stadium situation is assessing more than just the Orchard Park location of the current stadium.

AECOM, which will be paid as much as $154,561 to conduct the analysis for the state, says in addition to looking at whether to renovate or build in Orchard Park, they will analyze a “South Park Site.” The paperwork, obtained by News 4 through the Freedom of Information Law, does not specify where the South Park Site is, but it is believed to be in the City of Buffalo in the vicinity of South Park Avenue and Louisiana Street or Hamburg Street.

The consulting firm previously studied that location for the state in 2014.

Tom Scerbo, a vice president for AECOM, laid the scope of their present-day project out in a the firm’s proposal to conduct the study. It also notes that AECOM will “review with State and others regarding additional sites that should be evaluated”.

The Bills lease to play at Highmark Stadium expires after the 2022 season. The state, team, and Erie County are engaging in three-way negotiations to determine what happens after that.

The Bills have said publicly that they would like to play in a new stadium to be built across the street from the current stadium in Orchard Park. The $1.4 billion price tag would be shared between the team and government, under the proposal.

A spokesperson for Pegula Sports and Entertainment had no comment on the scope of the state’s study.

State study of Bills’ stadium needs reviewing all possibilities, including renovation

In late September, Governor Kathy Hochul said the study would come out “in the next couple of weeks”. She also said the report would be made public.

“There’s a study going on by a company that’s just assessing the different options and we’re going to release the study in about two months,” Hochul said.

TOWN OF PORTLAND, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office says the second set of human remains found last month were those of a Buffalo woman.

Marquita Mull, 50, was reported missing on July 18 after last being seen in Buffalo’s Broadway-Fillmore area on June 25.

MORE | Sheriff rules out serial killer as second set of human remains found in Chautauqua County

Mull’s remains were found a day after another set of remains were seen near the Rails to Trails entrance off Woleben Road in the Town of Portland. The sets of remains were less than 20 yards apart.

The other set of remains, which are believed to be decades old, were not those of Lori Ceci Bova or Corrie Anderson — two other women who went missing in Chautauqua County in 1997 and 2008. Dental records helped lead officials to this conclusion.

According to authorities, Mull did not have a known connection to Chautauqua County, so they believe she was brought there.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Buffalo International Film Festival is starting Thursday, and goes through Monday.

More than 120 films from 24 countries will be screened across a number of local venues, including the North Park Theatre and the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

“We look forward to welcoming new and old friends back to BIFF to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary and our official selections. Great storytellers have found innovative ways to stay creative and it has been very exciting to see how filmmakers have adapted to the challenges we’ve collectively faced” said Artistic Director John J. Fink.

Tickets are available at this site. The all-access Bison Pass is $45, a ticket for three virtual screenings is $20, individual tickets to live screenings with filmmaker Q&A sessions are $20 and virtual screenings are $9.

For the full lineup, click or tap here.

BATAVIA, N.Y. (WIVB) — On Wednesday night, a Mercy Flight helicopter crashed at the Genesee County Airport.

The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office says it happened on the north side of the airport between State Street Road and Bank Street Road around 9:20 p.m.

According to authorities, the helicopter had tried to land normally after returning from Strong Memorial Hospital, but made a hard landing.

The underside of the fuselage was damaged, but everyone inside the helicopter safely got out. They were taken to a hospital for evaluation.

The Sheriff’s Office says that it’s unclear why this incident occurred.

(WIVB) — Dozens of local veterans will take off this weekend for a whirlwind trip to Washington, D.C. aboard Honor Flight.

They’re flying to see the nation’s war memorials and lay a wreath at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. There will be veterans from WWII, Vietnam War, the Korean War and the Cold War on this flight.

Wednesday on News 4 at 5:30 we spoke with the president of Buffalo-Niagara Honor Flight.

“Our mission is to get these heroes to Washington. WWII, Korea, followed by Vietnam and honor them for their service to our country. We’ve been on pause for two years so we are super, super excited,” said Tom Petrie, president, The Buffalo-Niagara Honor Flight Chapter.

News 4 will have photojournalist Allison Staebell aboard that flight. Look for her stories in the days ahead.