Turn around. Put your hands behind your back. All right. You're under arrest for DWI. Michael is then arrested for DWI. And for most people, that's where the story would end. But according to internal records, this stop didn't start on the side of the road. In the summer of 2024, a traffic stop in Erie County, New York led to a DWI arrest. On the surface, it looked routine. But internal Sheriff's Office records would later reveal that the stop wasn't random. That evidence was withheld from prosecutors, and that the deputy involved falsified his report. Thin blue lies, baby. According to internal professional standards records obtained by the WKBW-TV team, an Erie County Sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop after receiving a personal phone call. That call involved a personal connection to the driver, a fact that was never disclosed in the official report. The deputy arrested the driver for DWI. Body camera footage shows the driver admitting to drinking and performing poorly on field sobriety tests. But what prosecutors didn't know at the time was why that stop happened in the first place. >> [music] >> Now to a months-long investigation by the 7 News I-Team, a Southtowns man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Erie County Sheriff's Office after a deputy targeted him in order to do a favor for a friend. 7 News reporter Giovanni Liguidi covers the Southtowns and brings us the body camera video the Sheriff's Office didn't want you to see in his investigation when policing turns personal. You're under arrest. >> it's more that you even pulled me over. >> You're under arrest. Listen to me. You're under arrest for driving while intoxicated. >> Okay. On the Stark Road in Elma in late September of 2024 in a small town where people know their neighbors and their police. We now know that there's a deputy who is out there and willing to [music] pull people over if a friend asks them to do that. What looks like a routine traffic stop unravels into a lengthy internal affairs investigation and would become the center of a federal civil rights lawsuit. Roll down your back windows. Okay, roll down these back windows. In several hours of body camera video obtained by 7 News in an almost 5-month-long public records fight, you see Erie County Sheriff's Deputy Salvatore Vaccaro pull over Michael Kubitzen. Listen, I know I had a couple of drinks. Michael admits to drinking. I'm going to fail my I'm going to say I'm going to fail, right now. >> Well, I'm just Listen, I just want to make sure that you're safe to be on the roadway. >> Field sobriety tests follow. Do you understand all the all the instructions I gave you? All right, you may begin. And minutes later What? You're not blowing? Okay. Go ahead and turn around, put your hands behind your back. All right. You're under arrest for DWI. Michael is then arrested for DWI and for most people, that's where the story would end. But according to internal records, this stop didn't start on the side of the road. Records show investigators determined Deputy Vaccaro targeted Michael, lied during an internal affairs investigation, withheld key evidence from the District Attorney's Office and falsified the original police report. You're really [ __ ] me up. I'm not trying to [ __ ] you up, man. >> You are trying to [ __ ] me. Okay, you are under arrest for driving while intoxicated. >> Okay. Records show just before the traffic stop, Deputy Vaccaro received at least two phone calls and minutes later documented a traffic complaint but didn't tell anyone else. Is there a reason for stopping? So, he I came behind him, approached him. Where was he actually? Where was he? Later that night, Michael Sun questions Deputy Vaccaro's intentions. So, there's nothing no no conflict cuz it kind of seems like an entrapment that >> no conflict of interest. >> It seems like there's some entrapment going on. He was unfortunately going through a divorce and the brother of the woman he was divorcing was very good friends with the deputy and had called him. Nearly 1 year later, investigators concluded those phone calls were from someone asking for a personal favor. He knew our my client would be passing through on his way home and then posted up there and when he observed his car then proceeded to follow him and initiate a stop. >> Michael thought the case was over after the plea deal. It wasn't. Michael was charged with DWI and for months the case hung over him. Then in February 2025, the criminal case took a sharp turn. Those calls were never disclosed to the district attorney's office until months later. Michael's case ended with the plea deal for a traffic ticket and the DWI charge was dropped. >> follow me home then? I'm not following you home. I'm conducting an investigation roadside. Okay? Can you call her? But days after that plea deal, Deputy Vaccaro filed a complaint with the Department of Motor Vehicles targeting Michael and his business. That triggered a DMV audit. That's when Michael filed a complaint with the sheriff's office. Do you think I'm like a criminal, dude? I'm not, dude. You know you can There's a way to go about things and there's a way not to. Sheriff's office investigators opened a professional standards investigation and found that Deputy Vaccaro lied about filing the DMV complaint, failed to disclose the phone calls, withheld information from prosecutors, and falsified the original police report. >> That's not the way that law enforcement is supposed to operate. They have guardrails. Clearly, this deputy um breached those. And not only did the county see the breach, they verified it. Deputy Vaccaro was suspended for 2 weeks without pay, but by then Michael had lost his CDL, endured a DMV audit, and faced criminal charges for months. This is where the system breaks. If any civilian withheld evidence, falsified a report, and lied during an investigation, they'd be charged with obstruction. But when it's a deputy, it's sustained misconduct and a short vacation. Probably cuz the badge makes consequences optional. >> I think the county is sending a message to deputies, "Yeah, go ahead, arrest people as favors for friends, lie or make false statements on documents. Um when we ask you about things under oath and you say you didn't do them and then we show you you did, you know, that's that's okay. Just, you know, go go somewhere nice for 2 weeks in June and come back next, you know, on the third week." It It sends a message that that's acceptable. Michael is now suing the sheriff's office in federal court. In court documents, the county disputes many of the allegations, even though sheriff's office investigators sustained most of them. They don't add up, right? What what the county has answered and what the internal findings have proved don't match. And while data shows very few law enforcement officers commit misconduct on the job, records show this specific deputy has a history of doing so. Well, unfortunately, this deputy has a track record of abusing power. This deputy, there's been at least four prior times um where he has abused his power. I can't believe you're doing this to me right now. Yeah, well, unfortunately, I don't care who you know, okay? I will I make sure the road is safe. Now, the sheriff's office sent me a statement saying in part, "Integrity, fairness, and professionalism are hallmarks of the mission of the office." And that they have no further comments because the allegations relate to a personal matter and are subject of pending litigation. Jeff, really a story that we've been trying to work on for months and and we finally got the records more than 80 pages. There is a lot in that report. And you mentioned in your reporting tonight that this deputy has been disciplined before. What can you tell us feel about that? >> Well, that's That's right. We've We've actually reported on this back in 2020, but back in 2019 after, again, falsifying records, but at the Erie County Holding Center, he was suspended, later fired, and he was given a second chance agreement, basically probation for 18 months while while he was working unless he did something else, but, you know, now now we're six six seven years later later into this and and there there's a more more uh allegation You just heard what the department already knew about this deputy years before this stop ever happened. And that context matters because this wasn't an untested officer making a first mistake. It was someone who'd already been disciplined for falsifying records, given another chance, and trusted again with full authority over the public. When departments talk about second chances, they rarely talk about who carries the risk if that second chance fails. In this case, that risk didn't fall on the department. It fell on a private citizen. Accountability doesn't fail all at once. It fails quietly when warning signs are documented, ignored, and handed back a badge. What matters most here isn't just what one deputy did. It's what the system allowed to happen again. Thin blue lies, baby. Hey, if you're still here, that tells me two things. One, you actually care about accountability. And two, YouTube hasn't scared you off yet. So, here's the deal. If this video brought you value, do the YouTube things. Like it, share it, subscribe. That's how this channel keeps exposing nonsense without corporate filters. 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