It seems that for the 2nd time in 15 months members of the Buffalo Police department physically assaulted the same man who was beaten in his home and possibly saved from being strangled to death by a black female officer. I use the word allegedly because this is a news report and not the op-ed column I generally do. There is nothing whatsoever alleged about the bruises and cuts this writer saw on the face of Neal David Mack on the night of 2/6/08. Following up on a call I received from Police Officer Cariol Horne-the principle officer who intervened when Mack; an African American, was already pummeled and was being strangled by white police officer Gregory Kwiatkowski- I accompanied their attorney Anthony Pendergrass to the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) to inquire if he was there. Pendergrass was already out searching for Mack's whereabouts since there evidently was no record of his being in custody.

  Understanding the close relationship between hospitals and police still didn't prepare me for what would transpire in the next few seconds. While Pendergrass was at the front desk, a black woman sitting on a bench behind me indicated that the man we were looking for was just escorted in. I walked into the emergency room area and looked around until I saw a man's head lying in a bed in one of the patient rooms. The head seemed to be of a dark-skinned black man and I knew Mack was light skinned but I went to get a closer look and it was him. Mr. Mack was lying down moving seemingly semi-consciously and his head was black and blue from the bumps and bruises of the beating he took. He recognized me as I approached him and I was then intercepted and arrested by officers, some who no-doubt brought him there.

                            
  For legal purposes I will not go into the details of my arrest and of course my mission was for all intent and purposes to find a missing person. I would find out later what Horne, Pendergrass and I suspected; that not only did they physically abuse Mack, but there was a long period of time between when the officers encountered him and the time he was admitted to ECMC. I interviewed Mack days after our release: "I was on Edison and Weston at the store, I went to the store and I came out and these guys was in the car and they said 'you look familiar' and I said 'you look familiar too.' The police kept going (driving) back and forth, I seen them before they seen me. The next thing I know they was going toward the car, they told them to come here. The kids got out the car, then all of a sudden they went towards the car and they ran. The cops took out a gun, they (the kids) took off running, so then they grabbed me.