New witness comes forward in deadly 2013 Saratoga Springs foot chase

As NewsChannel 13 reported on Sunday night, a witness came forward more than eight years after Darryl Mount was critically injured while running away from police.

"I saw him grab ahold of the railing, his body hit the side of the railing and he went down to the ground," said Tommy Kvasnack, who was tending bar at Gaffney’s that night.

In a deposition recorded in December and obtained exclusively by NewsChannel 13, Kvasnack says it happened while he was sitting outside having a drink at the end of his shift.

He was asked why it took him more than eight years to share what he saw.

"You know, I had a little reluctance in doing this, but the truth had to come out, and I had to say something," said Kvasnack.

He told John Aspland, the attorney representing the city in the Mount lawsuit, that he finally came forward after seeing a guy on the news who kept talking about an incident he knew nothing about.

Kvasnack’s testimony lines up with other Gaffney’s employees, who said they never saw police have contact with Mount until they came to his aid as he lay on the ground.

Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino, a former prosecutor, defense attorney and County Court Law Clerk released a 46-page report Sunday night, analyzing all of the available evidence in the Mount case.

He concludes that at no point did responding officers do anything wrong, and that some in the public have drawn their own wrong conclusions about police.

"I’ve witnessed some of them being called ‘murderers’ to their faces. I’d like it if that could end," said Montagnino.

The commissioner blames former Chief Greg Veitch for not conducting an internal investigation as required by city ordinance and says the city should settle with Darryl Mount’s estate.

"I think it’s the right thing to do," he said.

However, Montagnino also said "I have no evidence that I’ve seen that I find credible at all to suggest that the police officers who responded that night engaged in any misconduct of any kind."

NewsChannel 13 asked him "Why settle?"

"The police chief’s actions and lack of actions were part of a chain of events that have led to years of suffering for Patty Jackson and the rest of the Mount family," replied Montagnino.

Newschannel 13 reached out to former Chief Greg Veitch and his attorney. We also reached out to Black Lives Matter leader Lexis Figuereo, who Kvasnack was referring to in his deposition.

Mark Mulholland will have updates on our late newscasts after the Olympics, and on WNYT.com.