Buffalo Schools, Erie County DA respond to SVU detective's whistleblower report

BUFFALO, NY—The story of SVU Detective Richard Hy’s whistleblower allegations of unreported incidents of child abuse, sexual assault, and attempted kidnapping within the Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) has continued to evolve since Hy broke the story on the Unsubscribe Podcast Sunday.

In the days since, the responding narrative from BPS officials has evolved from a statement released to social media Saturday night, claiming, “The district is prepared to vigorously address these untruths,” as previously reported by Law Enforcement Today, to the Board reportedly moving to launch an independent investigation according to Ben Tsujimoto of Buffalo News that “will likely be an outside law firm that examines how Buffalo Public Schools handled the incidents Hy shed light on.”
 

Update: Buffalo School Board has decided to pursue a third-party investigation into the allegations made by Detective Richard Hy in the Unsubscribe Podcast. https://t.co/sUXgmcYt9r

— Ben Tsujimoto (@Tsuj10) April 28, 2025

Buffalo Public Schools held a special meeting Monday regarding the allegations that immediately went to an Executive Session for approximately two hours and was not livestreamed as these meetings typically are. The board was not permitted to comment on the investigation.
 

The independent investigator will likely be an outside law firm that examines how Buffalo Public Schools handled the incidents Hy shed light on. That obviously would be different than the criminal investigation, which has been happening since February.

— Ben Tsujimoto (@Tsuj10) April 29, 2025

Buffalo Board of Education President Dr. Kathy Evans-Brown told reporters Monday, "The BOE is initiating an independent external investigation, and the results will be shared publicly," according to WGRZ. Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams Knight added that “Inundated is a word, um, I think we've all been contacted by parents and staff who have some concerns.”

The board reportedly encouraged parents and caregivers to come forward with their concerns, with Board Member at-Large Larry Scott saying, per the outlet, "If they do have concerns, real concerns, that they reach out to the Superintendent, that they reach out to board members.”

WATCH:


In a statement released Monday, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office responded to the public outcry, stating,

“The Erie County District Attorney’s Office is committed to the thorough investigation and prosecution of any crime against a child. We continue to handle any allegation of sexual assault, child abuse and tampering with evidence with the utmost seriousness. The District Attorney is aware of the statements made by a member of the Buffalo Police Department regarding the Buffalo Public School District in a recent podcast. While we understand these statements have raised concerns about the safety and well-being of children in our community, our office cannot comment at this time as to not compromise any potential investigation that may relate to those public comments. Additionally, some statements made during the podcast involve an ongoing criminal case, and our office does not comment on any matter currently pending prosecution." 

According to the outlet, several parents have made their concerns public. Ed Speidel, President of the District Parent Coordinating Council, speaking for himself and not the organization, told WBEN, "I am thankful that that Detective [Richard Hy] came forward. The district has a history of covering up. I deal with a lot of Special Ed parents, and we have a lot of problems in Special Ed where students are placed in improper classrooms. This doesn't surprise me one bit."

Speidel expressed similar concerns over possible backlash for his statements to those expressed by Det. Hy saying he thinks he could be blacklisted for voicing his concerns, "Because nobody wants us to speak bad about Buffalo Public Schools.”

He confirmed Hy’s assessment during the Unsubscribe Podcast that Buffalo School staff have remained silent out of fear of losing their jobs, saying it is 100% true. "If you speak out, you're done."

During a Monday interview with WGRZ 2 On Your Side, Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams Knight was asked, “Can you say today that everything that was said by Officer Hy is, in fact, not true?”

She responded without directly answering the question, saying, “I think there's an investigation our board president has shared is going to be ensued, and whatever the outcome from the investigation is will be shared with the public.”
Acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon told the outlet, “The claims are obviously very troubling. I haven’t had a conversation with the superintendent yet. We exchanged a couple of quick texts. We plan on having a conversation tomorrow. I talked to our commissioner, but obviously, there’s an investigation going on, so it would be very difficult for me to comment on things that are going on with this investigation.”

In a follow-up interview with American Ground Radio on Tuesday, Detective Hy shared his hypothesis that the alleged obstruction by the Buffalo Public Schools stems from the defund the police movement.
 

“The majority of it starts with you know the defund police movement. Because since that movement, it has gotten exponentially worse. But since that movement, I feel like there's this massive distrust and it's… ideological right? If there's people that choose to believe that that police are inherently bad and/or racist and that’s reason to defund them. And those people are in schools.

Not everybody, but those people are in schools. And there's been enough of those people that are like minded like that, to where they have such a distrust and disdain for police, that they just won't work with us regardless of what happened.

And then, with that just poor set of thinking that it… it's so short sighted. There's also… there's the sense of fear in these schools, you know? ‘What if I stand up and say something, am I going to be protected by the union?’ ‘If everybody… if I tell the police what's going on and why everybody around me decides that they're going to tell on me for you know working with police and giving student information which they are allowed to do and we expect them to do when a sexual assault takes place in a school or if a child reports to a mandated reporter like a counselor in the school, right? ‘Hey, I was touched here outside of the school,’ even that's become an issue.”