Tree statue is stolen in postgame crime spurt

The Buffalo Bills’ embarrassing 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns wasn’t the only crime committed in and around Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday and early Monday.
The most harrowing was the extended police chase that injured six people, including three police officers — and left others claiming they were a mere few feet from being seriously injured or killed.
Orchard Park police Monday charged the driver with 16 criminal counts, including four felonies.
Other crimes included the theft of an 8z-foot-tall Thurman Thomas tree carving from a parking lot outside the stadium overnight Sunday and the flight from Orchard Park Police Headquarters of a man who was arrested at the game — and later found sleeping in a nearby resident’s basement.
It was a wacky day in and around the stadium.
The weirdest crime may have been committed by some bold thieves apparently armed with a hefty truck who stole the tree carving of the former Buffalo Bills running back.
The tree statue, part of the Carvings for a Cause initiative carved from trees lost in the October Surprise snowstorm of 2006, was unveiled late Sunday morning at a tailgate party in a stadium parking lot across from the scoreboard.
It was last seen after the game Sunday but discovered missing Monday when organizers planned to take it to Sahlen Sports Park.
“I’ve never had anybody steal a carving,” Carvings for a Cause founder Therese Forton-Barnes said Monday. “They weigh anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds.”
Forton-Barnes was stunned by the theft.
“It would take a lot of strong people and a flatbed truck,” she said. “I don’t understand it. It’s a mystery. I’m perplexed by the whole thing.”
Forton-Barnes sent Thomas a text message advising the Pro Football Hall of Fame member of the theft Monday.
“He said, ‘Are you kidding me? No way,’ ” Forton-Barnes recalled. “I said either someone stole it or it ran away.”
The theft was reported shortly after noon Monday to Orchard Park police, who said they had no evidence about who stole the carving.
Orchard Park police also had to investigate the escape of a 23-year-old Rochester man accused of fleeing late Sunday afternoon from a holding room in Police Headquarters.
The man, identified as Richard R. Chaffee, apparently managed to get his foot in the door of the holding room before it was closed and locked. He had been arrested at the stadium on charges of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.
“He subsequently walked out of the room unnoticed,” Assistant Police Chief Ted Gura said. Police officers quickly noticed his absence, at about 4:45 p. m., but a search of the area was unsuccessful.
At about 6:15 p. m., police received a call from a resident of Lockwood Lane, less than half a mile away, about an intruder in the house.
“He was discovered in the basement, apparently sleeping on the couch,” Gura said.
Officers filed additional charges against Chaffee for escape, obstructing governmental administration and criminal trespass, police said.
Also on Monday, Orchard Park police investigating the series of hit-and-run accidents charged Brandon W. McLean, 19, of Ledge Lane, Clarence, with three counts of second-degree assault, driving while intoxicated, four counts of leaving the scene of an injury accident, reckless endangerment and other charges.
He was sent to the Erie County Holding Center on $50,000 bail, pending his arraignment this afternoon in Orchard Park Town Court.
Orchard Park police say a 16-year-old youth from Virginia and a 20-year-old man from Hamburg suffered concussions and other cuts and bruises when they were struck by the vehicle. Both were taken to Erie County Medical Center, where they were treated and later released.
And a 16-year-old Hamburg youth suffered a possible hand fracture when he jumped over a small bridge guardrail and down a ravine to avoid getting hit. Also injured and taken to area hospitals were one Erie County sheriff’s deputy and two Orchard Park police officers.
Police realize the injury toll could have been much worse.
“We were fortunate that the people who were struck have been released from the hospital, and we’re fortunate that nobody else was struck, with the large number of people who were in the area after the game,” Gura said.
Also Sunday, Orchard Park police reported that 30 people were arrested at the game, 34 turned away from the entrance gate and 142 ejected for rowdy behavior.
Source buffalonews.com