New details surrounding an altercation at a Niagara Falls casino between Republican state senator Mark Grisanti and several members of the Seneca Nation have cast doubt on the politician's story that he played the part of peacemaker. Video footage shows Grisanti pointing and shouting at a security officer, then later being held in a choke hold by another one of the officers. Businessman and former member of the Seneca's Tribal Council, Ross John, also tells The Buffalo News that Grisanti used a racial epithet against a guard. "I was maybe 15 feet away. I heard it. '[Grisanti] yelled, 'Don't you know who the [expletive] I am, you [expletive]?' "
Though John says he is "certain" he heard the remark and insists he will tell the police the same, The Buffalo News notes that no racist remarks can be heard in the video. We can't decide for ourselves, because the paper removed the audio for "swearing" (children read The Buffalo News?). Grisanti told the paper, "I don't recall saying any racist word. That's not in my nature." Capital Tonight has a version with audio.
But Grisanti admits to using a "clothesline" maneuver to clear off two women he claims were "pummeling" his wife, Maria. Recalling the words of Lisa and Bartholomew Simpson, Grisanti says, "I went in there and I was making these sweeping motions to move, clear people out. If somebody got hit in any circumstance whatsoever, it's too bad because my wife was on the bottom of that pile. And I would do it again."
Captain William Thomson, the chief of detectives of the Niagara Falls Police doesn't foresee any charges being pressed. "I've viewed the video and I don't really think there has been a crime here. This investigation may turn out to be nothing if no one cooperates."
Indeed, though the Grisantis have proof that the state senator's wife Maria sustained a concussion in the scuffle, none of the parties have submitted statements to authorities. Other witnesses, who are Seneca Nation business associates, Sally Snow and her husband William Perry, said that Grisanti's wife was fighting one woman, not two, and that Grisanti was the aggressor.
"The senator seemed to think that it was his business to jump in between the two of them," Snow told the paper. "[Grisanti] kept asking Eric White, 'Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?'"An attorney for Eric White provided the video footage. "This tells the rest of the story… The media has only been giving one side," the attorney noted.
"I think if everyone had acted like an adult, we wouldn't be talking about this. There wouldn't have been an incident," Captain Thomson says. The official surveillance footage of the incident will be provided by the casino soon, but look forward to fights like these happening at a casino near you.
