Buffalo man sentenced to 15 years in prison

Michael T. Sawyer, 34, was sentenced by State Supreme Court Judge Deborah A. Haendiges as a second-time violent felony offender, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said. He will be placed on post-release supervision for five years after his release from prison.

About 10:36 p.m. on April 1, 2022, Sawyer punched, slapped and choked a woman during an argument inside a Buffalo residence, prosecutors said. The woman, whose identity was not released by the prosecutor’s office, suffered a concussion and bruises.

Sawyer took the victim’s cell phone and stole her vehicle, which he used to commit an attempted robbery around 5:15 p.m. on April 5 outside a grocery store on Harlem Road near Kensington Avenue in Cheektowaga, police said. prosecutors. While driving the stolen vehicle, Sawyer grabbed the purse handles of an 80-year-old Snyder woman. The victim was dragged by the moving vehicle and fell to the ground, seriously injured.

The woman was transported to Erie County Medical Center where she was hospitalized for several weeks with head trauma and other injuries.

When Sawyer was confronted by police while walking toward the stolen vehicle on Miller Avenue near Broadway in Buffalo, he attempted to flee. After a brief chase, he was taken into custody.

Sawyer was charged in the domestic violence case and arraigned in Buffalo Municipal Court on April 7, 2022.

He was later charged with 13 counts for both attacks. He pleaded guilty to all of these acts on May 7, including first-degree assault, first-degree attempted robbery, second-degree theft, second-degree strangulation, fourth-degree grand larceny, third-degree assault and fourth-degree tampering with a witness. Sawyer also pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and four counts of second-degree criminal contempt.

Final protection orders were issued Wednesday on behalf of both victims and will remain in effect until April 2050.