2 years later, ex-cop admits story of shooting was a lie 

Fired shot into his vest to stir Gowanda search

Stephen T. WATSON

BUFFALO NEWS

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

June 09, 2010, 12:30 am

 

 

A disgraced former Gowanda police officer has admitted that he lied two years ago when he claimed that a gunman shot him, a disclosure that apparently settles one of the area’s more perplexing police shooting cases, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jason D. Miller confessed that he staged the 2008 incident by firing a shot into his bulletproof vest as it hung from a tree and hiding the weapon before making his false call, Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III told The Buffalo News.

Miller made the admission to investigators from Sedita’s office as part of a plea deal in a case that accused Miller of covering up a traffic violation in exchange for free pizza.

“From what I know about this case, it makes a certain amount of sense,” Sedita said of Miller’s statement. “It makes a heck of a lot more sense than the story he’s been sticking to since September 2008.”

Members of the Gowanda police force, the State Police and other law enforcement agencies have long had suspicions about the incident, which occurred Sept. 26, 2008.

Miller, now 36 and a North Collins resident, was a part-time Gowanda officer at the time.

He initially told police that he had been driving on East Hill Street in the village when a man walking on the side of the road threw something at his patrol car, Gowanda police said.

Miller said he got out of his car and chased the man, who Miller said climbed a steep incline and fired two shots at the officer from a plateau. One of the bullets hit Miller in his vest, according to his account.

The call by Miller drew a heavy law enforcement response, with state troopers and Gowanda police leading an intensive investigation into the shooting.

Miller stayed on the Gowanda police force until last July, when he was placed on administrative leave because of his handling of a June 4, 2009, traffic stop.

Officials say Miller arrested the driver for having a suspended license, filled out the required paperwork but never filed those documents with the court. He did this in exchange for three free pizzas provided by the driver, authorities said.

Miller resigned from the force in September and, on the same day, resigned as an investigator with the Cattaraugus County district attorney’s office.

In May, Miller pleaded guilty to official misconduct, a deal that required him to pay back $600 to the Gowanda Police Benevolent Association and reveal what happened in the shooting.

Sedita’s office handled Miller’s prosecution because of his former employment with the Cattaraugus County office.

In his first session with Sedita’s investigators, Miller acknowledged that the shooting didn’t happen the way he reported it, but he did not elaborate.

This didn’t satisfy Sedita, who said he directed Chief Investigator John M. Cleary Jr. and Investigator Mark R. Stambach to interview Miller again.

The investigators talked with Miller on Monday at the office of his lawyer, Daniel J. Henry Jr. There, Miller admitted that he fired a bullet into his vest as it hung on a tree, put the vest back on, buried the weapon and reported that he had been been shot and needed backup, Sedita said.

Miller said he got nervous and returned about a week later to dig up the gun, which he dismantled before scattering the pieces throughout Gowanda.

Monday, Miller contended that he always intended to eventually tell the truth.

“He did say he was going to come clean to the authorities, but it was too embarrassing,” Sedita said.

The two investigators repeatedly asked Miller why he had staged the shooting.

“He said, ‘I don’t know,’ ” said Sedita, who speculated that Miller might have wanted to present himself as a hero — or victim — to his fellow officers.

Sedita said that Miller was not promised immunity for his admissions in the shooting and that he has the discretion to charge him with reporting a false incident, a Class Bmisdemeanor. But Sedita noted that Miller already has pleaded guilty to official misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor, and now has cooperated with investigators.

Henry declined to comment on the details of his client’s admission.

Miller’s confession is gratifying to Gowanda Police Chief Joseph J. Alessi, who said law enforcement officials had worried for two years that a cop shooter may be on the loose. “I don’t understand his thinking,” Alessi said. “It’s very disheartening that he threw away a promising career in law enforcement, . . . and for what?”

Alessi thanked the State Police, Sedita’s office and the Erie and Cattaraugus County sheriff’s offices for their work on the case.

He said he and a number of police officers plan to attend Miller’s sentencing, originally set for Thursday in Collins Town Court but now postponed.