Kenmore Lanes (wbfo.org)

“As a bowler pocketed his $21 refund just after midnight at the Kenmore Lanes in February, he had to contend with an off-duty Kenmore police officer – moonlighting as a security guard – who took issue with the patron’s complaints,” buffalonews.com reports. “Took issue.” Yeah I can just imagine how politely officer Jeffrey R. Mang voiced his objection. Especially as “Angry words were exchanged. The patron’s friend tried to intervene. Then, within seconds, the off-duty officer drew his sidearm and – without any threat of deadly force against him – put the barrel to the head of the would-be mediator, according to the bowlers’ accounts.” Needless to say, when on-duty Kenmore police arrived . . .


the two bowlers were arrested. Not Officer Mang. Why would he be? Still, actions have consequences, don’t they?

But after the bowlers told their story to Kenmore police officials, the moonlighting Kenmore cop didn’t work another day in uniform.

And when the Village Board met June 3, it accepted the resignation of a “village employee,” who officials later confirmed was Jeffrey R. Mang, 30, a nephew of Kenmore’s mayor.

“There was no special treatment,” Kenmore Police Chief Peter J. Breitnauer said of the three-month internal investigation into the incident. “There was no cutting corners.”

An investigation that allowed Kenmore’s mayor’s nephew to walk away without disciplinary action. And, I assume, keep his gun rights. Maybe even LEOSA rights.

Mang’s actions were irresponsible. Whether you’re a sworn police officer or a concealed carry permit holder – rare as hen’s teeth in the Empire State – you don’t put your gun to anyone’s head unless you are facing an imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm.

The city’s lackadaisical “investigation” into the incident was also irresponsible. It sends a message to bad cops: we got your back. It also degrades the public’s faith in the people charged with upholding the law and, thus, the law itself. But we’re gonna have to give the IGOTD trophy to Mang. Polishing it should give him something to do while he seeks law enforcement employment elsewhere.

Oh, and for the record, I’m disgusted by all the media outlets who refrain from publishing pictures of cops who’ve stepped over the line. So, just for fun, here’s the News’ account of the night in question, after they filed a Freedom of Information request.

The bowlers who clashed with Mang said he argued with them not as a police officer but as an employee of Kenmore Lanes upset that the bowlers had demanded a refund.

The two were local college students out with four other friends. Their enjoyment soured as the bowlers in the next lane became more obnoxious as the night progressed, according to one of the bowlers, who ended up in the dispute with Mang. He and his friend spoke to The News on the condition that they not be identified because of the possibility it could hinder their job searches.

Both men were reluctant to discuss the episode and expressed a desire to put it behind them. Although Mang’s actions seemed to qualify as “menacing” under New York’s Penal Law, the two bowlers chose not to press criminal charges.

One of the bowlers went to the desk to inquire about a refund, and their group of six was given back the $21 spent for their third and final game. That’s when Mang approached him to ask why the bowler had not complained sooner.

Mang told the bowler he should fight the group from the next lane, who were by then apparently outside waiting to confront them in the parking lot, according to the bowler, who is 23 and was attending SUNY Buffalo State at the time.

He and the security guard – the bowler says he did not know Mang also was a cop – started to argue. He said he told Mang that had Mang been doing his job of providing security, the night would have gone differently.

“That made him upset. That’s when he grabbed me by my neck and the whole thing began,” the 23-year-old bowler said.

His friend, 27, saw the argument escalate. He said he stepped between the two and told the security guard to get his hands off his friend.

“At that point was when the gun was put to my head,” the 27-year-old said.

“I’ll (expletive) kill you,” Mang screamed, according to the 27-year-old. “I’ll blow you away.”

“I was scared for my life,” the bowler said later.

Mang shoved the 27-year-old’s head on the desk counter and handcuffed him, the bowler said.

On-duty police were called, and the police report describes a chaotic scene at that point.

“There was a lot of people upset and trying to explain what happened,” an officer wrote in the report, which The News obtained under New York’s Freedom of Information Law.

Mang reported that the 27-year-old had spit in his face. The 27-year-old said he did not remember doing so. But he was cited with harassment and disorderly conduct, both violations under New York law.

The 23-year-old was also cited with disorderly conduct. All the violations were later adjourned in contemplation of dismissal in village court.

The report made no mention of Mang’s decision to pull his weapon. The two bowlers complained about it later at Police Headquarters and the next morning when the 27-year-old said he filed a formal complaint.

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57 COMMENTS

  1. Until cops start policing their own (admittedly rare, but sometimes very high-profile) scumbags with the same gusto they reserve for other scumbags, police (in general) will continue suffering from a reduction of respect from the public.

    Personally, I think they should be held to a higher standard, but hey, baby steps; let’s start with equal treatment.

    • So here’s my question – why do we let the cops conduct investigations of their own people? Kind of a conflict of interest at best I would say. What should happen is that there should be an independent citizens board that handles the investigations. Ideally, at least one person on the board should have some level of an antagonistic view of the police. This would help to insure an impartial investigation and would start bringing these bad apples to justice.

      • As someone who’s actually attended a meeting of his local citizen review board, I can tell you that in my experience it was a complete sham. Two cases came before them that night with clear cut videotape evidence of officer wrongdoing. Before and after the event the people on the board were yukking it up and hobnobbing with police officials who were offering to let them and their kids attend all sorts of special functions with them.

        I heard them invite one of the guys on the board, who later downplayed a handcuffed man getting his head smashed into the cement paddock floor by an officer (which was caught on tape) as “boys being boys”, to try out their new shooting sim.

        The independent review boards are not independent for long, if they ever are in the first place. And the powers that be would never let them have real legal teeth.

    • Having been on a jury where a young man was accused of disobeying a lawful order. I found out that cops do cover each other butts to the point of perjury. The testimony was, to be charitable, absolutely stupid. Just a note, I have respect for the LEO’s that respect the Uniform and their oath. I’ve also been on the receiving end, a traffic accident with a young officer where, surprise surprise, the dispatchers recordings and the backup recordings somehow failed, at exactly the same time. Fluke accident.

  2. Why you gotta be such an angry wimp mang?

    Good, one less loser “protecting and serving”…

    • Yeah, until somebody calls the cops and his co-workers show up.

      If this was anyone BUT a cop, do you think the part about him holding a gun to the guy’s head would have been left-out of the incident report? THAT’S the kind of stuff that needs to stop.

  4. I don’t understand. Didn’t Mang have the super-secret-squirrel LEO training that imbued him with the superhuman ability to safely and responsible handle a gun?!?!! He must have been SIQ from a doughnut overdose the day that covered that at the Academy.

  5. Well, good on the bowlers for filing a former complaint. If they hadn’t, I’m guessing there would have been zero consequences for Officer Mango.

  6. “…you don’t put your gun to anyone’s head unless you are facing an imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm…”

    I don’t know…if you have the tactical advantage to be able to put the barrel of your gun to someone’s head, the claim of facing an imminent threat of death kind of goes out the window unless you’re scuffling on the ground.

  7. So if a cop holds a gun to a guy’s head he loses his job, but if bunch of cops actually shoot two little Asian ladies delivering newspapers, the cops all get a two week paid vacation.

    Shooting innocent people is okay, threatening innocent people is not okay. Got it.

    The student is very lucky that he’s not blind, because the cop would have shot his guide dog.

  9. Say this happened in a free state and not the Imperial State. Bowling Mall cop (you don’t know hes off duty, not that it matters) sticks a gun to your best friends head. What do you do?

    I say he’s freaking dead. Any sane society this guy would have been put down, DA would decline to press charges, and the mayor would apologize for being related to a psycho.

    • only problem you have with this scenario is that irrespective of his actual LEO status, you at least know that he is an employee of the bowling alley and is acting in some sort of official security capacity. You could drill him and you might ultimately get acquitted, but only after a lot of money and pain. It would be different if he was some drunk a-hole bowling in the next lane who decided to draw down on you.

      • Armed self defense insurance. I refuse to stand by while someone is attacked. I’d rather die, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself afterward, especially if it was a friend.

        In this scenario he was clearly way out of line. His mayor uncle couldn’t save him from being fired. We’ve seen officers mow down innocents and get vacation, there’s probably video of it buried somewhere.

    • If this happened to me and my friends at the Kenmore (Washington) Lanes, that violent criminal would have three guns against his head. Then we’d all wonder why we’re at a bowling alley, instead of at the gun range doing something fun.

  10. Seriously, if the police want to regain the trust of the people, they need to start coming down like the wrath of God on misconduct like this. I understand the desire to protect your own, and giving each other the benefit of the doubt until the facts are in is necessary for trust between officers. I get that. But, once the facts ARE in, it needs to be openly,publicly, and loudly condemned. It needs to be clear that transgressions will be investigated properly, not swept under the rug, and punished harshly.

    • The police by and large stopped caring about the trust of the people (there are admittedly exceptions) a long time ago. For many (not all) police its about “us” versus “them” (we of course are “them”) and about “just getting home safely” For this reason, the only thing that is going to drive a change in police behavior is when citizens start to demand it en masse. Good luck with that.

      • I saw a report on Fox news like 10 minutes ago, cop deaths rose by 40% from last year, to 68 I think. She said police chiefs blame “possible rising violence.” Liked that qualifier there since violence has been going down for the last 20 years. I looked it up on BLS and police have less deaths than freaking janitors and groundskeepers.

        http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cftb0273.pdf

        Its only 10th on actual rate, 2011.

        http://www.safetynewsalert.com/top-10-jobs-with-high-death-rates/

        • There’s a minarchist/conservative guy who writes for the Orange County Register (I forget his name) who’s done a lot of research on the “dangers” of being a cop (he also researched firefighters) and the costs of their pension system. Apparently CA cops get massive pensions after 10 or 20 years of work, and the union claims they deserve it due to the horrible dangers they face.
          According to his research, being a cop is safer (in terms of injury and death rates) than being a farm worker, miner, construction worker, machinist, and lots of other normal jobs. Additionally, the vast majority of their injuries and deaths come from traffic collisions, because they spend so much time in vehicles. If we ignore those numbers, to isolate criminal violence, the death and injury rates are relatively low.

        • On the BLS actual murders for police were 49 for 2012, farm managers 0. For total deaths, accidental or murdered though its farmers 232, police 121.

          Death rate:
          Farmers .01%
          Police .005%

          Numbers used total farms 2.1 million (this is managers for farms on BLS so I used the total number of farms in the US) total police 780,000.

        • Holy crap, officers in Seattle committed 20% (6 of 29) of its homicides. I notice percentages get kind of screwed up when dealing with tiny numbers like these. “Crime went up 300%!” for 4 robberies increasing to 16.

        • About those top 10 deadly jobs……

          While all the Leftists and the MFM keep yapping about the supposed glass ceiling for women they somehow continue to ignore the death basement for men.

          Just saying.

        • officers in Seattle committed 20% (6 of 29) of its homicides.

          Yup, B, but at least the officers got home safely. That’s the only thing that matters. Right?

    • In many areas, spitting on a cop will get you an Assault charge; with the prevalence of deadly bodily-fluid-borne pathogens, it could be a Felony Assault rap in some jurisdictions.

      • In many areas, spitting on a cop will get you an Assault charge

        @DJ9, in many areas back in the sixties, spitting on a cop in front of a pert “co-ed” would get you laid.

        Good times.

      • yeah, and somehow “The 27-year-old said he did not remember doing so.” doesn’t sound like a full-throated defense.

        • I might not accept it as the gospel truth but if someone says “I didn’t spit on him” I’m a helluva lot more likely to believe it than “I don’t remember spitting on him.” That’s the kind of stuff normal people remember doing or not doing.

        • It could’ve been an honest answer… he was grabbed by the throat and couldn’t 100% remember if saliva came out of his mouth involuntarily. So, he might be pretty sure that he did not spit on the officer but can’t be completely sure. As you know, when people yell at each other and when one grabs the throat of another, saliva can fly; voluntarily or involuntarily. One thing that is clear though; that gun didn’t go to the victim’s head on it’s own and involuntarily. Spit does not warrant barrel of a gun, IMHO.

  13. What a joke. Are you sure this guy’s uncle wasn’t named Quimby? It sure sounds like a Simpson’s episode.

  14. So how is this not menacing at the least and possible attempted murder? And in New York of all places!

    • New York seems to me the most likely place for this to happen. A nice disarmed citizenry to bully with impunity when you have the only gun.

    • …because he’s a member of the ruling elite’s enforcer class, and the victims are mere commoners. He is above the law, and their rights don’t matter.

  15. In SC for anything more than speeding the officers agency, state police & solicitor’s (prosecutor) would all be conducting separate investigations. 3 months would be needed to generate the ton of paperwork & present it to a grand jury. Also most SC departments do not allow officers to do private security.

  16. I had to read the Buffalo News report before I really got it – the two guys arrested didn’t complain about the absence of the gun-menacing in the report, they mentioned the gun-menacing that night at the PD and the next day in the formal complaint. But reported twice by these guys, it never appeared in the “official” police report.

    The cop, pulling down over 73K a year, was on extended leaves after this before the resignation. Nice. Off to another gig somewhere.

    • I don’t think I want him to put his hose to my head, either.

      OK let me rephrase that…

  19. I hold a commercial driver’s license. Although I no longer drive professionally, if I am ticketed my fines are automatically doubled. If the state I’m in has a legal blood alcohol limit of 0.8, mine is 0.4. By law. I am held to a higher standard, because I’m supposed to be a professional.
    So every time I see cops get off for breaking the law, up to and including homicide, I wonder, where are the professionals? At least the would-be peacemaker didn’t get ventilated by the mayor’s son. Can I assume that no sobriety test was given to the “officer” in question?

  20. God help them all, right? Hopefully all LEOs make it home un-sweaty and get to kiss their wife and kids goodnight. Hopefully that LEO was fortified, but not emboldened, by the incident. Hopefully that kind of stand-off is the max we have to hope to face. Verbally support your LEOs so that every encounter with his beat doesn’t look like a round in the ring, even if he’s moonlighting on his shield.
    GOD save us all.

  21. This is exactly the kind of crony, nepotistic society that liberalism creates. Favors for the connected few, threats and abuse for everyone not drawing a salary from a government agency. And there are lots and lots of government agencies. In their perverted world, merit is not the coin of the realm. On the other hand, having an appalling lack of compunction, is!

    Down here in the 10-20-LIFE-state of Florida, what this douche-bot did was felony assault with a gun. 10 years mandatory.

  22. All too often the “Thin Blue Line” becomes the “Thin Blue Lie”. The “one bad apple can spoil the barrel” certainly applies when cops behave criminally and get away with it. Even when damages are awarded via lawsuit the criminal cops usually do not pay – just another burden dumped on taxpayers.

  23. Mr. Mang is going to make a mistake with the wrong guy and regret it hard. This is one guy who should not have a NYS permit to own anything, not even a car.

  24. Should not be eligible for LEOSA based on how long he’s worked unless he gets another police gig.

  26. I would say that “LEOSA rights” are not rights but an extra privilege given out to a certain class of government employees in exchange for votes and the service of arbitrarily denying average citizens the same right that retired law enforcement already enjoys. We all have the preexisting right to keep and bear arms. Any law prohibiting that is unconstitutional and therefore illegal. That’s just my take.

  27. Cops covering cops? Happens everywhere. USA, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. With any potential scandal, watch and the blue wall closes ranks. The brotherhood will always look after their own. How bad can it get? If you can, get hold of seasons 2 and 3 of Underbelly. Based on true events, the corruption not only went to the top of the police but to the top of the state government as well.

    Remember the police view of the world. There are three kinds of people according to cops:

    1. Other cops.
    2. Friends and family of cops.
    3. Lowlife scum.

    Criminals are in category 2. Citizens are in category 3. I suppose if you deal every day with the dregs of society, you will see everyone as a lowlife.

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