A lot of the country forgets that outside the immediate environs of New York City, the state devolves into the sort of place where state judges have shirtless, gold-chain-adorned screaming matches with the police over parking spots. Back in June, former state senator and now state Supreme Court justice Mark Grisanti was having a typical day of fighting with his neighbors when the police showed up and tried to defuse the situation. Law360 secured bodycam footage per a FOIA request and it’s, well…
Yes, that’s a shirtless state jurist pushing a cop after the officer tried to stop Grisanti’s wife from continuing to yell in the middle of the street like a “Real Housewives of Buffalo” outtake while the police try to unravel the world’s stupidest turf war. The roots of the conflict between the neighbors aren’t entirely clear but it has something to do with parking and a complete lack of dignity.
As the footage progresses (or devolves, as the case may be), Grisanti is heard referencing his family members in law enforcement and citing his friendship with the mayor of Buffalo, threatening the police that “If you don’t get the cuffs off her right now, you’re going to have a problem.”
The Grisantis were put in the back of the car for a while to chill before a detective — Grisanti’s cousin — called and talked him down.
“If you get arrested, that’s going to be all over — you know it’s going to be on the news,” Costantino said.
In Grisanti’s defense, why were the police cuffing a woman for yelling? It seems as though there would be many, many options for sidelining her that don’t involve physical manhandling. The rapid escalation to twisting a woman’s arm and throwing her in cuffs underscores a lot of the “everything’s a nail to a hammer” problems with the state of American policing. A woman wouldn’t be quiet and the police responded with physical f**king violence — that’s not OK.
On the other hand, she admits that she’d bitten one of the neighbors already so maybe she’s lucky they didn’t pull out the Hannibal Lecter mask.
But that doesn’t excuse Grisanti’s not-so-subtle demands for special treatment. That a judge might think that being close to the mayor and having ties to law enforcement could influence how police handle a case is… well, probably accurate. Still, it doesn’t help the integrity of the judicial system to see that a judge expects leniency for the well-connected.
And let’s not overlook that we’ve seen unarmed Black people killed for less than shoving a police officer. In contrast, no one was even arrested for this.
What else could have fueled this behavior? From Law360:
“You want to drop another copper’s name? You want to scream about how you know Gramaglia or the mayor?” the officer yelled at the judge, before putting handcuffs on him. “You want to make us look dirty, is that what you want to do? So how am I helping you now?”
“You’re dropping everybody’s name with a badge and you’re expecting special treatment. How does that look like to everybody in this environment right now?” the police officer said as he put the judge in the back of a police SUV. “You smell like cheap beer.”
Cheap beer… oh, now I remember where I saw this story before:
‘Intoxicated’ NY Judge Shoved Officer, Invoked Ties To Power [Law 360]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.