Grand jury testimony by 3 Bills players delayed
Some Buffalo Bills players will get extra time to decide what they are going to say to an Erie County grand jury about the Marshawn Lynch situation.
If they have to testify at all.
Three Bills players had been scheduled to testify Friday regarding a May 31 hit-and-run accident involving Lynch’s Porsche sport utility vehicle, but because the Bills have no scheduled team practices before training camp next month, prosecutors have agreed to postpone the grand jury appearances of players who live out of town.
Investigators have emphasized that the three football players were subpoenaed for one reason — to tell exactly what happened that night. Those three teammates of Lynch are not the focus of the criminal investigation.
“We’re trying to avoid anybody having to testify before a grand jury,” Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark said Wednesday. “If we get the information we need, through other sources or from the people who were scheduled to testify, we’ll just cancel their grand jury appearance.”
Four Bills team officials still are scheduled to appear before the grand jury Friday to tell what they know about the accident that injured a 27- year-old Ontario woman.
But that, too, could change.
Clark confirmed Wednesday that he still is huddling with attorneys for the Bills in order to settle the case before grand jurors hear testimony.
Authorities still expect the driver of Lynch’s vehicle to be charged with a misdemeanor count of leaving the scene of a personal-injury accident. Such charges rarely result in jail time for first-time offenders, officials have said.
Also Wednesday, Buffalo’s top law enforcement official aired his views about the case, saying he was frustrated with the amount of time investigators have had to spend on it.
“I think Marshawn did something pretty foolhardy, and at some point, he’s going to have to look this thing right in the eye,” Police Commissioner
H. McCarthy Gipson told The Buffalo News. “If he had done what needed to be done, this would have been resolved without so much fanfare and effort.
“Ultimately, someone will pay the price for what happened out there.”
Meanwhile, police have learned more about the movements of Lynch and other players who spent time with him on the night of May 30, hours before the 3:30 a. m. accident.
According to police officials, Lynch and several other players spent part of that night getting their hair styled in the Orchard Park apartment of James Hardy, a rookie wide receiver.
A local hairstylist who is a friend of veteran defensive back Donte Whitner was called to the apartment to work on the players’ hair, authorities said.
“[Lynch] and some of the others left Hardy’s apartment around 9:30 that night,” said one source familiar with the case. “They made a stop somewhere else and then went down to Chippewa.”
Police sources said Lynch and at least one other player went to an exotic dance club in Cheektowaga before spending time in Chippewa Street bars late on the night of May 30 and early on the morning of May 31. Investigators do not believe that Hardy was part of the Chippewa expedition.
A 25-year-old Buffalo woman who said she spent time with Lynch at the Bayou bar at about midnight said he was behaving like a gentleman and drinking only water.
“I’m not sure if anyone has come forward in defense of Marshawn Lynch,” said the woman, who asked that her name not be used. “. . . He was nothing but nice, and he even took a picture with my friend and me.”
dherbeck@buffnews.com and gwarner@buffnews.com
