When an SUV owned by a Town of Tonawanda police officer smashed into an Uber driver and her fare on a January night two years ago, it took 20 minutes for the first officer to get to the scene.
This began the department's bungled accident response that allowed Officer Howard M. Scholl III to falsely claim his wife was behind the wheel at the time of the crash, according to previously undisclosed disciplinary records obtained from town police.
The records amplify previous Buffalo News reporting and offer new details on the incident and its aftermath, including:
- Officers ignored statements made early on by the driver of the other vehicle and a town paramedic indicating Howard Scholl was driving.
- They were wrong to let his wife, Aimee, drive the Scholls' SUV from the scene in an "unsafe condition."
- One officer disregarded an order to check Howard Scholl's intoxication level.
- Finally confronted with direct evidence Howard Scholl was behind the wheel, the same officer reached out to Scholl to give him a chance to "do the right thing" instead of alerting a supervisor.
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The documents, released by town police in response to a public records request, for the first time identify the officers who handled the accident investigation and detail the discipline they received from the department for their actions that night and in the days afterward.
Officers Joseph Klyczek, Robert Kubus and Bikramjit Singh all were briefly suspended without pay in the case, which had significant ripple effects within the department. The police chief at the time of the crash, Jerome C. Uschold III, retired under pressure seven months later.
Scholl has been on unpaid suspension since shortly after the crash but he is battling in court to keep his job. Criminal cases against Scholl and his wife also are pending. And a passenger in the Uber car has filed a civil suit against the ride-hailing service, his driver and the Scholls over injuries suffered in the crash.
"The call was not investigated properly and poor decisions were made throughout the call’s duration," according to a report of violation against Singh signed by Uschold.
The crash happened about 11:50 p.m. Jan. 19, 2019, when Scholl was off duty and leaving a party for members of the Town of Tonawanda police SWAT team at Sinatra's Restaurant on Kenmore Avenue.
The Scholls' SUV rolled through a stop sign and struck a car on Englewood Avenue that had the right of way. Both occupants of the car, an Uber driver and her passenger, were treated for minor injuries and this vehicle was towed from the scene.
The disciplinary records chided Singh, the acting patrol supervisor, for telling a dispatcher the midnight shift would handle the incident but failing to assign anyone to the call in a timely fashion.
Singh was the supervisor on scene. Klyczek was charged with writing up the accident report, with assistance from Kubus.
The internal affairs investigation criticized Klyczek for failing to interview all four parties. Klyczek, investigators found, also didn't "appropriately assess" vehicle damage, leading him to include incorrect information on his accident report, known as an MV-104A.
Klyczek then allowed Aimee Scholl to drive the couple's SUV from the scene even though both air bags had deployed, a headlight was missing and it had sustained significant front-end damage.
Uschold previously told The News that Aimee Scholl underwent sobriety screening at the scene and wasn't intoxicated.
Sources had said Howard Scholl was not screened for intoxication. Though portions of the records are redacted, The News confirmed Klyczek said he didn't think he needed to screen Howard Scholl because he believed Aimee Scholl was driving.
Klyczek, the records show, also didn't tell any supervisors when the other driver insisted in a phone call that Howard Scholl was behind the wheel, and didn't immediately update his accident report, though he alerted Scholl to this conversation.
Kubus, for his part, spoke to Howard and Aimee Scholl at the scene and, according to the documents, both said Aimee Scholl was driving. The internal report cites Kubus for failing to pass along "pertinent" information about the crash to Klyczek, including "suspected alcohol involvement."
Kubus, according to the investigation, soon after the crash received a message from an on-duty paramedic stating Howard Scholl was the driver. "He failed to follow up on that message," investigators wrote.
The Uber driver told Singh "the guy" was driving the Scholls' SUV but Singh, the documents show, assumed she meant she saw Howard Scholl move the SUV after the accident and did not relay her statement to Klyczek.
And as acting patrol supervisor, Singh bore full responsibility for letting Aimee Scholl drive away in an "unsafe" vehicle, investigators determined.
The Scholls weren't ticketed because police blamed the accident on icy road conditions, as noted in the initial accident report filed Jan. 20.
Days later, Capt. Joseph Fennell, now the assistant police chief, wrote that the internal affairs investigation, ordered by Uschold, was looking into "possible collusion between the parties involved to hide the fact Officer (Scholl) was operating the vehicle in an intoxicated condition at the time of the accident."
Records show the internal affairs investigation started Jan. 23 and ended Jan. 31.
On Jan. 28, the three officers received letters ordering them to report for separate interviews over the next two days: Klyczek on Jan. 29 and Kubus and Singh on Jan. 30. Klyczek admitted in his interview that the three met at a restaurant later in the evening of Jan. 28 after receiving the letters.
Uschold on Feb. 1 signed reports charging the three officers with violating department regulations.
Fennell filed summaries of findings, which reflected the investigation into the officers' conduct, on Feb. 12. That was five days after Klyczek filed a new MV-104A indicating Howard Scholl was driving.
The department held disciplinary hearings for Klyczek, Kubus and Singh on Feb. 20 and 21. Klyczek was suspended four days without pay, while the others were suspended two days without pay. The police captain on duty, Daniel Murphy, also was disciplined, sources said, though records related to Murphy, now retired, weren't provided to The News.
The three officers have retained their own attorneys as the criminal case against the Scholls makes its way through a court system slowed by the pandemic.
They are on the prosecution's list of potential witnesses, though a spokeswoman for the Erie County District Attorney's Office said no decision has been made on whether they'll be called.
Howard Scholl is charged with falsifying business records and insurance fraud. Aimee Scholl is charged with falsifying business records. They both deny the charges.
A State Supreme Court justice in 2019 ordered the town to rehire Scholl, with back pay, though he remains suspended while the town appeals. The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, has yet to issue its decision, said Paul Weiss, attorney for the town police union, which is challenging Scholl's termination.
Weiss, Uschold and Uschold's successor as police chief, James Stauffiger, all declined to comment.
Further, Mark Harrington, the Uber passenger, has a lawsuit pending over the crash. The News previously reported he suffered a broken nose. His lawsuit argues Howard Scholl was impaired and Uber failed to adequately train the driver to avoid a crash.
The parties, through their attorneys, say they aren't at fault for Harrington's injuries and he bears some responsibility because, they contend, he wasn't properly belted.
