Buffalo officer charged with stalking ex-girlfriend had been investigated by Internal Affairs 13 times

By Staff Reporter

BUFFALO — A Buffalo police officer who had already been investigated by the department’s Internal Affairs Division 13 times is now charged with stalking and harassing a former girlfriend, and is accused of tracking her location and threatening the man she went on a date with.

Officer Benjamin Coughlin, 44, of Lackawanna, pleaded not guilty Monday in Buffalo City Court to fourth-degree stalking and first-degree harassment, both class B misdemeanors, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. City Court Judge Samuel P. Davis Jr. issued a temporary order of protection and released him on his own recognizance because the charges do not qualify for bail under state law.

He has been suspended without pay and is under investigation by Internal Affairs, according to Police Commissioner Erika Shields’ office, The Buffalo News reported. He is due back in court Nov. 4 before Judge Carrie A. Phillips. If convicted, he faces up to 90 days in jail.

What police say happened

Prosecutors accuse Mr. Coughlin of “intentionally and repeatedly harassing the victim by engaging in a course of conduct, which placed the victim in reasonable fear of physical injury,” and of contacting her after being told to stop, causing “material harm to the mental or emotional health of the victim,” the district attorney’s office said.

Court documents filed by police lay out more, according to The News. The woman, who is also a Buffalo police officer, told police she blocked Mr. Coughlin from calling, texting and social media on Sept. 21, The News reported. He then reached her through a relative’s Instagram and Pinterest accounts, she said.

On Oct. 8, according to The News, he sent her a message through a messaging app saying he knew she had gone to Thirsty Buffalo on Elmwood Avenue and asking who she was with. “I’ll find out and if I know him he’s (expletive) dead,” he wrote, according to a Buffalo police report cited by The News. A week later, she woke up to emails with photos and a video of herself at the bar, The News reported. One email asked, “How was Springfield?” and told her to “go die,” according to The News.

“I do believe Ben has been tracking my location,” she wrote in a sworn statement to police, according to The News.

Police also obtained a temporary extreme risk protection order, which let them seize Mr. Coughlin’s guns and search his home on Abbott Road in Lackawanna and his pickup, The News reported. Papers filed for that order say the department’s Threat Management Unit was told he “sent text messages to ex-girlfriend stating he would hurt and kill the male she went on a date with,” WKBW reported. Those papers say he did so “after obtaining and sending screenshot images of the ex-girlfriend and the male on a date he requested from the restaurant.” WKBW also reported that he is accused of threatening to find out who she went out with by “pulling camera footage,” and that it is not clear whether he meant to do that in his capacity as a police officer.

The defense

Mr. Coughlin’s attorney, Thomas Eoannou, stressed that the charges are low-level. “He was arraigned, he pled not guilty, and he was released on his own recognizance. He’s been charged with two low-level misdemeanors, two B misdemeanors, and again, he’s pled not guilty,” Mr. Eoannou told WKBW. “We’ll be transferred up to the domestic violence court, and that’s where we’ll file the appropriate motions.”

“This was an emotionally charged breakup of a seven-year relationship,” Mr. Eoannou told The News. He said his office’s investigation found that the woman “also made threats to harm others.” Those claims have not been tested in court, and Mr. Coughlin, like anyone charged with a crime, is presumed innocent.

Thirteen prior investigations

Mr. Coughlin was hired in November 2016 and works out of the department’s A, or South, District, The News reported. Department disciplinary records obtained by The News under the Freedom of Information Law show Internal Affairs investigated him 13 times through last year.

He received a one-day suspension in 2021 after being accused of making “derogatory comments” to an arrested person he was transporting; the improper-conduct accusation was not sustained, but a charge of violating the body camera policy was. He was reprimanded three other times: for an off-duty fight with another off-duty officer at a fundraiser at Doc Sullivan’s on Abbott Road in December 2021, for failing to turn on his body camera at a knife call in April 2022, and for failing to report his involvement in a pursuit in August 2023. He has faced four excessive-force accusations. Two were not sustained and two are still open, according to the records.

He was already under Internal Affairs investigation for being filmed asleep in his patrol vehicle on Aug. 1. A department spokesman said at the time that the case had been referred to Internal Affairs, but it did not appear on the disciplinary summary The News obtained Aug. 7, and the department offered no further explanation Tuesday, The News reported.

Why it matters

New York repealed Section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law in 2020, opening police disciplinary records to the public. Those records are why the public knows about Mr. Coughlin’s history at all.

They also raise questions only the department can answer. How are officers with repeated Internal Affairs cases flagged for supervisors? What has become of the two open excessive-force cases and the sleeping-on-duty case? And did any of the conduct alleged in this case involve police databases, cameras or other department tools? If it did, that would be a matter for the department and the district attorney, not just a breakup gone wrong.

Commissioner Shields’ office has the authority to answer those questions now, while the criminal case moves through court. The Chronicle has asked the Police Department and the district attorney’s office for comment and will update this story.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, the New York State Domestic and Sexual Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 800-942-6906, or by text at 844-997-2121.

Featured image: The Frank A. Sedita City Court Building in Buffalo, in a file photo. Photo by w_lemay via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0; cropped.