Officer Down Memorial Page - http://www.odmp.org

Police Officer Craig E. Lehner | Buffalo Police Department, New York
Buffalo Police Department, New York

Police Officer

Craig E. Lehner

Buffalo Police Department, New York

End of Watch: Friday, October 13, 2017

Biographical Info

Age: 34
Tour of Duty: 9 years
Badge Number: 2469

Incident Details

Cause of Death: Drowned
Date of Incident: October 13, 2017
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available

Police Officer Craig Lehner drowned while conducting a training dive in the Niagara River, in the area of Broderick Park and Bird Island Pier.

Members of the agency's Underwater Recovery Team were conducting a regularly scheduled training exercise in swift water currents. Officer Lehner entered the water as part of the training but failed to surface after his safety cable broke while he was submerged.

Officer Lehner's body was recovered on October 17th, 2017, during a massive recovery effort involving over 20 local, state, federal, and Canadian law enforcement agencies.

Officer Lehner was a veteran of the Army National Guard. He had served with the Buffalo Police Department for nine years and was assigned to the Canine Unit. He is survived by his mother and sister.

In May 2018, the City of Buffalo renamed the police department's new K-9 training building the Lt. Craig E. Lehner K9 Training Facility.