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Hugh Davis Jr.

Age : 60

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/13/2025

Location : Sanders Road and Colvin Avenue

City : Buffalo

County : Erie

State : New York

Agency : Cheektowaga Police Department

Officer(s) :Jeremiah Getchell

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police for undisclosed reasons

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/13/2025, at approximately 12:38 p.m., four Cheektowaga Police Department officers traveled outside their jurisdiction to 269 Sanders Road in Buffalo to arrest 60-year-old Hugh Davis Jr. Police had obtained warrants related to an alleged assault two days earlier at a Fairfield Inn in Cheektowaga. The warrants included second-degree assault, criminal mischief and menacing charges. Police alleged that Davis had become involved in a dispute over hotel charges, damaged property and struck a building superintendent, causing serious injuries including a brain bleed.
Cheektowaga officers Jeremiah Getchell, Jillian Bryant, Sidney Barrick and Tyler Landahl went to the apartment building. Getchell, Bryant and Barrick approached Davis's second-floor apartment while Landahl positioned himself behind the building. The New York Attorney General's subsequent investigation confirmed that Getchell led the officers approaching the apartment.
Body-camera footage shows officers repeatedly knocking on Davis's apartment door and announcing themselves as police. During the repeated knocking, the center panel of the door loosened and eventually fell inward into the apartment. Davis then emerged through the opening holding a large kitchen knife. The video shows Davis moving toward the officers and swinging the knife in their direction. Getchell pulled Bryant away as Davis swung the knife near her. Officers repeatedly ordered Davis to drop the knife. Davis continued holding the knife and swung it again before Getchell fired three rounds at close range, striking Davis in the torso.
Officers requested emergency medical assistance and began lifesaving measures. Buffalo Police Department and Buffalo Fire Department personnel subsequently arrived, but Davis was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators recovered the large kitchen knife.
Cheektowaga Police initially placed all four officers on paid administrative leave. Buffalo Police investigated the shooting because it occurred within Buffalo, while the New York Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation opened the state investigation required for deaths caused by police. Cheektowaga Police also initiated an internal affairs investigation.
The Attorney General subsequently publicly identified Jeremiah Getchell as the officer who killed Davis. The Attorney General also released body-camera recordings from Getchell, Bryant and Barrick, allowing the circumstances immediately preceding the shooting to be independently viewed rather than relying solely on the initial police account.
On 12/09/2025, the Attorney General's Office announced that it would not criminally charge Getchell. The Office of Special Investigation concluded that prosecutors would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that Getchell's use of deadly force was legally justified. On 05/12/2026, OSI released its full final investigative report and formally closed the case without charges against Getchell.
The final OSI report identified all four Cheektowaga officers involved as Jeremiah Getchell, Jillian Bryant, Sidney Barrick and Tyler Landahl and concluded that the available body-camera evidence supported Getchell's account of the immediate confrontation. The report determined that Davis's knife movements placed officers within striking distance and concluded that Getchell's three shots were legally justified under New York law.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.btpm.org/local/2025-08-13/off-duty-cheektowaga-police-officer-involved-in-shooting
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/cheektowaga-police-officers-involved-in-shooting-in-city-of-buffalo