By Patrick Lakamp
The Buffalo News, N.Y.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Buffalo police detective whose “Angry Cop” videos have drawn millions of views over the past decade sued the city Wednesday, accusing his superiors of refusing him promotions for too many years and putting him under heightened scrutiny and discipline because he is a veteran and his social media posts relate to his military status.
Richard Hy, 38, joined the Buffalo Police Department in 2012 following his active-duty service, twice serving with the Army in Iraq and awarded the Combat Action Badge.
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The civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court said most of Hy’s videos focus on military events, with his commentary often turning into sketch comedy.
Hy’s YouTube channel has 1.5 million subscribers. He’s published 869 videos since 2017.
Hy’s lawsuit against the City of Buffalo detailed how often he was passed over for promotion to detective or lieutenant from 2018 to 2022 before his promotion to detective in April 2023.
He was later promoted to lieutenant in 2023, but he decided to return to his prior rank as a detective, according to a New York State Office of Attorney General report in 2024.
Hy spent “years of being passed over for open and available promotional opportunities for which he was ranked highly eligible” and was not given an explanation for not getting the jobs, according to his lawsuit.
“The promotions were given to similarly situated officers who were often ranked lower on the promotion list, but who were not military veterans and who did not produce military-based social media content,” according to the lawsuit.
The department suspended Hy in 2016 and 2017 for content on his “Angry Cops” social media channel.
Other Buffalo police officers who posted material on social media accounts – but not military-related content – were not subject to “adverse action, discipline or promotional denials, particularly those who were not military veterans,” according to the lawsuit.
Indeed, other officers were rewarded for posting on social media, according to his lawsuit.
His lawsuit cited Buffalo’s “singing cops,” Moe Badger and Michael Norwood, who drew national attention in 2019 after a video of them singing went viral and they were invited to appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
Badger and Norwood posted videos of themselves singing while in full uniform and with their badges visible, but rather than discipline the officers for violating the department’s social media policies, the department encouraged the two to go on talk shows, attend Buffalo Bills games and perform at community events, according to the lawsuit.
“Given the pattern of strictly enforcing the social media policy against military veterans such as plaintiff, and not enforcing it against non-military veterans, plaintiff’s military background was a motivating factor in the defendant’s decisions to discipline him and deny him promotions that he was qualified for,” according to Hy’s lawsuit.
The department sustained eight complaints against Hy between 2015 and 2021, most of which involved violations of the department’s standards of conduct or social media policy.
The New York State Office of Attorney General found in September 2024 that Hy “engaged in a pattern of misconduct of escalating encounters with civilians, including by using physical force, discourtesy and unprofessional conduct.”
The agency based its conclusion on its review and description of three incidents involving Hy in 2020 and 2021:
• Hy backed his patrol car into a motorcycle during a traffic stop, and afterward Hy acted in a discourteous manner as he put the motorcyclist in handcuffs and began questioning him without giving the required Miranda warnings.
• Responding to a robbery call, Hy said “come here fat boy” to a 14-year-old suspect and after he put the child in back of a patrol car, Hy cursed at and pushed the child’s brother away from the car. The department exonerated Hy of excessive force complaints, but the state agency said he escalated the encounter by his discourteous actions and unnecessary force toward the brother, with both the brother and the brother’s father subsequently arrested during what became a chaotic scene.
• Hy yelled and cursed at an individual during an investigation of a neighbor dispute, according to body-worn camera footage from officers on the scene. After the individual said he knew the mayor and police commissioner, Hy said, “shut your (expletive) mouth. Shut up and let me talk to you, you old geezer. Shut up. Shut up and let me talk to you. Because you had so much to say and you touch a cop! So let me talk to you, guy! Let me talk to you, guy! Quiet! Quiet!”
Hy’s lawsuit does not mention the attorney general’s findings.
Hy accused the city of violating the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act.
His lawsuit seeks a court ruling declaring the city violated federal law and asks for lost wages and benefits, as well as damages for emotional distress and attorney fees.
A police spokesman said the department does not comment on pending litigation. Hy’s attorney Jared Cook could not be reached for comment.
In 2025, Hy’s comments on the “Unsubscribed” podcast raised alarms throughout Buffalo Public Schools and widely on social media. He accused the district of covering up a thwarted kidnapping attempt at the Charles R. Drew Science Magnet School. The Board of Education hired an outside law firm to investigate Hy’s claims and found no wrongdoing by district officials, but flagged weaknesses in the school’s safety protocols.
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