Road rage case leads to loss of $100,000 a year job for NFPD cop
Former Niagara Falls City Police officer James J. Conte, 48, was sentenced by Wheatfield Town Justice Erin P. DeLabio to a six month conditional release on a third-degree assault charge Tuesday.
Niagara County District Attorney Michael Violante said by pleading guilty to a crime, even a misdemeanor, Conte would have to surrender his pistol permit. A hearing would need to be conducted to determine whether his permit could be reinstated.
Conte was also ordered to perform 50 hours of community service and pay a fine of $250 for what law enforcement authorities said was a classic road rage incident.
The former policeman had faced the possibility of a year in jail on the misdemeanor charge. He was originally charged with felony second-degree assault with a weapon, which carries a maximum sentence of two years, but pleaded guilty to the reduced misdemeanor assault charge in November.
Ironically, Conte was one of approximately 65 Niagara Falls police and fire officers earning more than $100,000 a year. Rather than face the possibility of dismissal from the force following a hearing, Conte chose to retire after 25 years of service.
The difference in his pension by retiring after 25 years instead of 30 years will amount to about $5,000 annually, sources said. He will get approximately $55,000 per year when his pension kicks in, a source told the Reporter.
It was an unusually warm afternoon in early September, according to reports by sheriff’s deputies, when Conte was tailgating a vehicle driven by Jeff Kalita, 45, of Niagara Falls, on Interstate 190 in the Town of Niagara. Riding his motorcycle, Conte followed Kalita down the LaSalle Expressway and then confronted him in the parking lot outside Sandi’s restaurant at Williams and River roads.
Kalita said he had no idea Conte was an officer of the law or even who he was since Conte was off duty and not wearing his police uniform.
Words were exchanged and Conte swung his motorcycle helmet at the man and hit him in the left side of the face. According to three eye witnesses at the scene Conte then kicked Kalita several times in the upper body and head while the victim lie motionless on the ground.
Conte then fled the scene on his motorcycle but witnesses were able to get his license number and he was later arrested by sheriff’s deputies.
This was not the first case filed against Conte over the years. In 1997, he was suspended for three days for using his service revolver to shoot a dog that he said was attacking him. He was removed from his patrol assignment and counseled on proper procedure.
The city also settled a police brutality case involving Conte out of court in 2002 for $22,500. Conte had been accused of handcuffing and beating a woman who reported her wallet stolen.
A Niagara County grand jury found that there was insufficient evidence in the case to bring criminal charges, and an internal NFPD investigation at that time found no wrongdoing.
