BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) The son of a high profile former Buffalo Police officer is now being held in the East Ferry Detention Facility on charges of murder and robbery.

“There’s no hiding from this because today it’s my son, tomorrow it could be your son,” said Cariol Horne, who first made headlines back in 2006 when she tried to stop fellow officers from using excessive force on a suspect. She was eventually fired, but then became the namesake for ‘Cariol’s Law,’ a law which, since 2020, protects other Buffalo Police officers who step in if they feel excessive force is being used.

Now what she sees as a revolving door of inner city youth going to jail has hit her home. Her son has spent the past three months in the East Ferry Detention Facility. Because he could be charged as a juvenile, News 4 is not reporting his name, but he and 18 year old Calvin Clemons are both charged with the murder and robbery of 20 year old Trenton Sink on C Street last March.

“The individual who did not do the shooting turned around, went back to the victim, grabbed his backpack and then proceeded to take off with the other guy,” said John Flynn, Erie County district attorney on August 26.

Cariol Horne says her son was not the shooter. “At sixteen, you sometimes don’t make the best decisions but that does not make you a murderer.”

She says her son is a senior at East High School, took AP classes, and held three part time jobs before his arrest on August 26. She wishes that intervention programs like SNUG hadn’t taken a pause during Covid, and she urges more support for programs like the Wakanda Alliance which pays teens to perform community service.

“We need places for these kids to go when they feel like they don’t have anywhere to go or feel like they don’t have anybody to talk to. You know I couldn’t do it alone.” said Horne. “We want to bring everyone to the table so we can create a solution so nobody gets to hide behind anything. So that is the reason that I’m coming forward to even speak on it because I could just let the justice system play out but there would be no change. There would be another set of boys going to jail and another one that’s dead.”

Horne’s son turned 17 last month and his next pre-trial court appearance is scheduled in January.