A Buffalo police officer suspended last month for a vulgar confrontation captured on a viral video had previously been suspended 4 times during his career and the subject of 36 misconduct complaints.

Lt. Michael DeLong is currently suspended without pay after he confronted a woman outside a convenience store and called her "a disrespectful little f------ c---."  The incident was captured on a video and posted to Facebook, where it has been viewed 330,000 times.

The Democrat and Chronicle obtained the disciplinary records for DeLong under New York state's Freedom of Information Law.  The document is called a "disciplinary card," and the list of complaints runs for three pages.

It includes four instances where DeLong was suspended without pay: a 30-day suspension for an unspecified "off-duty domestic" incident in 2018; a 1-day suspension in 2017 for a procedural violation; a 1-day suspension in 2014 for "conduct off duty;" and a 2-day suspension in 2008 for "use of force."

DeLong also received two formal reprimands according to the disciplinary records. The first, in 2005, was for off-duty conduct and use of force. The second was for a procedural violation in 2014.  He was also summoned to conferences before the police commissioner or other department.

The first such incident, related to a complaint about the use of force, was opened in August 2001 during his first month at the job, while he was still a probationary officer assigned to the training academy.

The disciplinary card shows that DeLong had been investigated for misconduct 36 times since he joined the Buffalo Police Department in 2001. Thirteen of those incidents involved the inappropriate use of force.  He was investigated for procedural violations 9 times and for conduct issues on 13 occasions. 

Three of those complaints were related to domestic incidents. One of them, in 2018, led to a 30-day suspension. In the other two cases, investigators concluded that the allegations were "not sustained." This means that investigators did not turn up enough evidence to either prove or disprove the charges.

Internal affairs investigators exonerated DeLong twice, for a use of force charge in 2007 and a procedural violation in 2015.  A 2007 use of force charge was determined to be "unfounded."

The disciplinary record provided by the Buffalo Police Department was current through July 1, 2020, and does not include any references to the June 28 incident for which DeLong is currently suspended.

Efforts to reach DeLong for comment were not successful.

The disciplinary record for Lt. Michael DeLong can be found below.

Disciplinary record for Buffalo Officer Lt. Michael DeLong by Keegan Trunick on Scribd

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