Heights Stabbing Arrest – a look under the ‘hood

The arrest of Todd Heatley for the stabbing death of Jacob Herbert illustrates just how tawdry, stupid and dangerous the “party” scene in the Heights has become.

Let’s speculate a little about how it all might have gone down:

• The Vernon boys learned that there is big money to be had running a “party for profit” house in the Heights. Money is not the only motivator. Tang, especially that fresh high school tang is another benie. (Sorry, The Verbose One insisted I include this.)
• They hire Todd Heatley, a fairly well known DJ in the Buffalo area, to provide that trip hop edge that all good little underage suburbanites crave. The Vernon boys may or may not have known, or cared, about Todd’s little anger management/violence problem.
  

  Todd Heatley, 27, of East Main Street was charged Aug. 24 with menacing with a weapon along with Harley Tong, 27, who was also charged with assault with intent to cause physical injury after the two were involved in an altercation. The Observer, Dunkirk

• Underage partiers from suburban high schools and colleges in the area swarm Lisbon Ave and pay a cover charge for music and all you can drink. Or perhaps just music, with the all you can drink being an extra charge. The police say 250 people, so there were probably many more than this present over the course of the night. (Attending “Parties for profit” in the Heights is a very popular pass time for Amherst and Williamsville High School kids. Just check facebook to confirm this.)
• The police are called repeatedly by irate neighbors sick to death of the noise, drunk high school and college kids slumming in the City for the night.
• The police come, see another college “party”, and make very little effort to shut it down. After all, they have real crime to attend to and not enough manpower to do that.
• Jacob probably gets upset because his good time is ruined by the police coming and allegedly demands his money back. Todd the DJ, who makes part of his living off of the proceeds of “parties for profit” like this one, probably wouldn’t take kindly to a rich kid from Clarence cutting into his livelihood.
• And we all know how this story ends.

We don’t have the manpower to baby-sit 150 kids – police official

Mayor Brown we are not asking you to baby-sit. We are demanding adequate resources be dedicated to this neighborhood. Numerous laws were broken the night Jacob died. If you can’t do the job, step aside and let someone who cares take over.

Some of the laws that were probably broken at 112 Lisbon, any one of which could have been used to shut the “party/business operation” down permanently:

• Noise ordinances.
• Fire code violations – 250 people or more in a house violates all sorts of regs.
• Serving alcohol to minors
• Selling alcohol to minors.
• Selling alcohol without a permit/license.
• Holding an event without a permit.
• Open container.
• Drug possession?

Sunday’s Buffalo News had a good article by Jay Tokasz. It confirms much of what we suspected, Heatley was the DJ at the illegal event, Heatley and Jake Herbert argued over a $7 cover charge, residents think the police response on this was completely screwed up …

Todd at work YouTube

Todd Heatley on the cover of Artvoice July 22, 2009 (he’s the guy standing by the TV in the blue suit)