STAFF REPORTS
BUFFALO — U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Julius Hatten, Jr., 29, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles J. Volkert, Jr. and Justin G. Bish, who handled the case, stated that on August 5, 2018, Buffalo Police Officers observed a black vehicle, traveling eastbound on Winspear Avenue, violating several New York State traffic laws. Officers conducted a vehicle stop and determined that the defendant was not suitable to operate a motor vehicle. As officers attempted to secure Hatten and place him in handcuffs, he pushed them away, pulled a firearm from his waistband, began to flee on foot, and pointed the firearm in the direction of the officers. The defendant was ultimately apprehended on Highgate Avenue. The firearm was a 9mm pistol.
In August 2011, Hatten was convicted of a felony for Criminal Possession of a Weapon Second Degree in Erie County Court and is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.
“While cases of police involved shootings garner headlines, situations such as this, in which police exercise tremendous restraint in peacefully resolving a situation in the face of great danger, are far more common yet far less publicized,” noted U.S. Attorney Kennedy. “As a community, we should be quicker to commend than we are to condemn. On behalf of our entire community, I say thank-you to the many brave men and women on the Buffalo Police Department—and all of our state and local law enforcement agencies—who each day put themselves in harm’s way and perform quiet acts of heroism. Far too often, your good work goes unnoticed and unreported.”
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Byron Lockwood, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, New York Field Division.
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