BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Lockport man is accused of brandishing a handgun after a minor traffic crash Tuesday on Buffalo’s north side, video of which was recorded and posted online. A woman who was seen shoved to the ground is asking the district attorney investigate it as a hate crime.
Jeffrey Calhoun stands charged with first-degree attempted robbery, second-degree menacing and second-degree harassment after he was rear-ended at a stop light on Sanders Road and Colvin Avenue just before noon.
Jeanneie Muhammad says Calhoun pulled a gun on her after the accident.
“When I went to go reach over and get my insurance out of the glove compartment, that’s when he reached into the car, snatched my keys out of the ignition, and said that ‘I think that you’re going to try to run,'” said Muhammad to media assembled Wednesday.
The video shows onlookers trying to help as Calhoun holds onto Muhammad. She hits him, and seconds later, he is seen pulling out a gun.
The Erie County District Attorney’s office says Calhoun, 62, tried to steal Muhammad’s purse, bit her and threw her to the ground.
Police arrived quickly, and the video shows Calhoun setting it on the squad car. Muhammed alleges that once Calhoun was in the police car, he called her the n-word.
“Here’s a man who thankfully, he was not shot and killed in the streets like so many of our people have been shot, but this man reached in, so there’s a double standard,” said Dahveed Muhammad, Jeanneie’s husband.
“When I saw the video,” said District Attorney John Flynn, “my gut reaction as a human being was, ‘really dude, you’re going to pull a gun out?”
“I can assure the victim and her husband that a full investigation is being done by me, and if I have the evidence to prove that in fact it is a hate crime, I will charge it.”
Calhoun was held on a $75,000 property bond before being released on bail. His felony hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 10.
A no-contact order was issued for the victim.
