A police officer fired for stopping a white colleague from choking a Black suspect has won back her pension.
According to The Guardian, Cariol Horne was dismissed from the Buffalo police department back in 2008 after attempting to prevent fellow officer Greg Kwiatkowski from applying a chokehold to subdue an African-American man during an incident in 2006.
Kwiatkowski was cleared during an internal investigation by the department. In contrast, Horne was found to have breached policy and was offered a four-day suspension.
She rejected this offer, which led to her being dismissed, having served only 19 of the 20 years required for her to receive a police pension.
But in a court hearing on Tuesday, April 13, Erie County Supreme Court Judge Dennis Ward ruled that Horne's pension was to be restored - entitling her to 13 years worth of back payments.
Per The Guardian, Judge Ward stated: "The legal system can at the very least be the mechanism to help justice prevail, even if belatedly."
Referencing recent high-profile cases of police brutality and racial profiling in the United States, Ward told the court that Horne's intervention in 2006 has led to Buffalo lawmakers penning a new law in her namesake.
This law will obligate police officers to act in the same way as Horne did if they witness another police officer using excessive force when apprehending a suspect.
Commenting on the ruling, Horne addressed the court in a statement issued via her attorney, saying:
"My vindication comes at a 15-year cost, but what has been gained could not be measured.
"I never wanted another Police Officer to go through what I had gone through for doing the right thing."
The Guardian reports that Horne's lawyer Ronald Sullivan added: "She saved a life that day, and history will now record her for the hero she is."
Horne has stated that she will not be returning to her old job, and has become a prominent activist for the Black Lives Matter campaign in the years since her termination.
