By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — A disorderly conduct charge against a man who attempted to speak twice during the public comment section of the Olean Common Council on March 25 was dismissed in Olean City Court Thursday in the interests of justice by the Cattaraugus County District Attorney’s office.
Carlos Andres, 43, of Salamanca, wasn’t in City Court because he had been arrested Wednesday in Salamanca at his place of employment by Salamanca Police on a warrant issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Andres was ordered by Council President John Crawford to sit down when he approached the podium to speak for a second time and attempted to leave rolled coins to help the city pay to stop sewage overflows into the Allegheny River.
In widely circulated videos — including the City of Olean’s YouTube channel which recorded the meeting — Andres was going back to his seat when police approach him from three sides. Police handcuffed him and took him out of the Common Council’s meeting room as Council President John Crawford gaveled the public comment session closed. Crawford told the Olean Star later that he gaveled Andres because his first concern “was to ensure everyone got a first chance to speak, thus I did not recognize him.”
A new video featuring Andres, a tall Black man with long hair, could be found streaming widely on social media Wednesday night and Thursday morning. In this video, Andres is being arrested by Salamanca Police at Ava Marie Cafe on Broad Street.
Police said they received a warrant to detain Andres from ICE. He was later turned over to ICE agents and is believed to be housed at the ICE detention facility in Batavia. It’s unclear what charge ICE listed on their warrant to detain him.
In Olean City Court on Thursday, Assistant Public Defender Dillon Lauricella informed City Court Judge Nicholas A. Dicerbo Jr., that the prosecutor had withdrawn the disorderly conduct charge, a violation.
Afterward, Lauricella told the Olean Star that from his perspective, after watching the city’s YouTube video from the March 25 meeting, Andres’ arrest was not warranted.
Assistant District Attorney Sara Zaprowski said she was “was prepared to withdraw the charge based on the interest of justice.”
Mayor Bill Aiello said his understanding was that the judge dismissed the case in the interest of justice. “I’m OK with that,” he added. “It is what it is.”
The mayor said he heard of Andres’ arrest by ICE, but declined to comment further.
A friend of Andres, Kathi Gimbrone of Salamanca, said she knows Carlos from the Salamanca Library. She wasn’t at the March 25 meeting, but saw it the next day on YouTube and called the mayor’s office to talk about it.
She talked to the mayor’s secretary and told her the arrest “was not a good look for the city.” Carlos “has a good heart. What I saw on that video does not show disorderly conduct.”
Gimbrone was in City Court to show support for Carlos, but was unaware he would not appear because he was detained by ICE. She still doesn’t know why.
City officials should make a public apology to Carlos, Gimbrone said. “He genuinely wanted to help the city. He had good intentions.”
Salamanca Mayor Sandy Magiera told WGRZ-TV in Buffalo that Andres had offered a similar monetary donation at a Salamanca Common Council meeting, but she told him the city couldn’t accept it.
Magiera said Andres had been in the U.S. for about six years and had spent the last two or three years living in Salamanca. He had met with her in her office in the past to ask where he could camp because he was homeless for a while.
The Salamanca mayor told WGRZ-TV that Andres “does little things that the police have to talk to him about, right? He likes to praise God. He’ll stand on the street corners and sing and things like that, doesn’t really bother anybody with it.”
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