In India Walton's 2014 arrest, conflicting claims of threats and bullying

Walton’s arrest has been reported before, but the new details differ from the account that Walton gave after winning the Democratic primary. Walton said then she was the victim of bullying on social media by the woman who had her arrested.

Walton, running for office for the first time, upset Mayor Byron W. Brown in the June 22 primary. Walton is the only candidate on the November ballot, but Brown is waging a write-in campaign.

Walton and her accuser provide almost opposite versions of events, but this much is known, based on police records and law enforcement sources:

• Buffalo police arrested Walton on a charge of second-degree harassment on June 27, 2014, at work at Children's Hospital. In the arrest report, obtained by The Buffalo News, the arresting officer said a fellow nurse had complained that Walton "has continuously threatened to do bodily harm" to her, "causing alarm and annoyance." The nurse accused Walton of threatening her for about three months, according to the police report.

• More details were included in an addendum to the arrest report, a law enforcement source said. “Defendant has told complainant that she will break her legs, and has stated to complainant and co-workers, ‘I’m gonna take you out. Outside hospital property,’ ” a Buffalo police officer wrote in the addendum, according to the source.

• Judge E. Jeannette Ogden issued a six-month order of protection on July 17, 2014, requiring Walton to stay away from the co-worker, said a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case. Ogden, who is now a State Supreme Court justice, could not be reached for comment. 

• Records of the Buffalo City Court case are sealed. Walton told The News the case was resolved with an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal.

Beyond that, Walton and the co-worker’s husband paint very different pictures of what happened.

In a statement Monday, Walton said: “I am a nurse, a mother, an accomplished nonprofit executive and a respected community organizer. The notion that I go around threatening people’s lives is absurd.

"My nursing career was, like my campaign is and my administration will be, guided by profound love, care and compassion. Insinuations to the contrary amount to simple character assassination.”

The husband's account

In an exclusive interview, the husband of the nurse whose complaint led to Walton's arrest said that Walton's harassment of his wife reached a breaking point in the spring of 2014 when he said Walton told other workers she planned to kill his wife as she left work. 

The husband said Walton made the threats in a breakroom in front of other workers during their overnight shift. The workers, he said, were so concerned that they called his wife at home to alert her.

The News tried to find witnesses who heard the alleged death threat but was unsuccessful. 

The husband said that the next day his wife worked at the hospital, she was escorted to her car by a Buffalo police officer at the end of her shift.  

He said he and his wife went to the Central District police station and filed a harassment complaint against Walton and requested the order of protection.

The husband spoke to The News on the condition that his name not be used because he said he feared retaliation. His wife would not talk to The News. The husband said she fears possibly losing her job if she speaks out publicly.

The husband said he wanted to share his wife’s account of what happened because they do not agree with how Walton portrayed herself as the victim of social media bullying.

He said his wife never bullied Walton, and that, in fact, it was just the opposite, though he was unable to provide any posts.

Walton's account

Of the death threat allegedly made in the breakroom, Jesse Myerson, the Walton campaign's communications director, said Monday the "allegations are completely unsubstantiated and wildly out of step with Ms. Walton’s proven character. There is no evidence to suggest she ever said anything like what he claims."

Walton told The News in a July 1 story she was unaware that a notification had been mailed to her to appear in Buffalo City Court on her co-worker's complaint. She said the notification had been sent to her estranged husband’s address.

When Walton arrived at work on June 27, 2014, she said she was arrested.

“I was humiliated. I’ve never been arrested and I was put in a jail cell until I was able to see a judge later that day,” Walton stated in The News’ story.

Walton denied that she ever harmed the co-worker. She said she was the victim of bullying on social media by the woman who had her arrested.

Walton's campaign provided The News on Monday with a series of Facebook posts between her and the woman who had her arrested. 

The woman wrote in one, "You let Kathy and I down because you lied to us. You know who u r and I have no respect for you." 

Walton responded, "I'm going through a lot of personal turmoil right now. Unfortunately whether you respect me or not I will continue living." She added, "The next time you have something to say to me I'd appreciate it if you would address me in person as a professional adult woman should." 

In a reply to another person's Facebook post, Walton wrote, "Sucks that a bunch of nurses are so self interested that the administration had to violate the contract for the safety of our patients. ... Some of y'all need to check your souls." 

The woman who had Walton arrested responded, "Will we ever get rid of you?" 

Walton told The News in June that she “took an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal” to put the harassment case behind her.

When an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal is granted in court, legal records are generally sealed if the defendant stays out of trouble for a specified period of time set by the judge. City Court workers said there are no court records available on Walton.

The allegation of a death threat was not addressed by Walton in a June interview with The News.

She said she had previously attempted to defuse the situation with her co-worker.

"I told her that we are professionals and we're adults and if she wanted to have a conversation, we should do it in person and not via social media," Walton said.

In an interview with WIVB-TV last month, Walton said, “When I politely told them I’d like to speak with them personally and handle the situation like adults, one claimed that they were threatened by me and feared for their life, despite the fact that I am 4-foot-11 and was going on disability for surgery.” 

And the candidate made similar comments during a late June interview with WGRZ-TV, saying that, “I never laid a single hand on a person. That’s not even in my character.”

“You don’t have to do anything to a person for them to get a restraining order,” Walton added in the WGRZ interview. “There was a person, who, for some reason, felt threatened by me. I’m 5-feet tall. … I don’t know why anyone would feel threatened by me.”

She added that her disagreements with her co-worker happened while Walton was going through a “very difficult time.”

“I was leaving an abusive marriage and I was living in my car,” Walton told WGRZ.

Arrest issue emerges

The husband said he and his wife are frustrated that Walton is now portraying herself as the victim.

After Walton won the Democratic primary against Brown, the husband said social media comments began to surface about the 2014 incident.

The husband said he met Brown, who is running a write-in campaign, at a social function in early July, and they talked about Walton’s arrest, but he told Brown they did not want to publicly talk about it. 

“My wife decided to check her personnel file and there was nothing in it on the threat. She had given work a copy of the restraining order,” he said.

His wife, he said, was told by a hospital official that “ ‘Patients come first and don’t be talking about this.’ She took that as a threat to her job.”

Two Children’s Hospital nurses said they and others have been warned by supervisors in recent weeks not to speak to the news media about Walton’s career at the hospital or her reasons for leaving. 

Kaleida spokesman Michael Hughes confirmed that has happened.

"I can confirm that we in fact did remind staff, managers and physicians at Children’s Hospital about refraining from talking about or speculating about a former employee," Hughes said. "In short we do not want confidential matters regarding employees to be improperly disclosed." 

He said Kaleida sent workers at Children's Hospital this notice on June 30: 

“As you are probably aware, community activist India Walton recently beat Hon. Byron W. Brown in the primary election for mayor of the City of Buffalo. Ms. Walton is a former registered nurse with Oishei Children’s Hospital as stated in her public profile (LinkedIn). That said, this is a formal reminder that we cannot comment on or discuss any previous employees. We do not discuss personnel matters per our longstanding practice and corporate responsibility.”