BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The man who said he was hit by New Era CEO, Chris Koch, is planning to file a civil lawsuit.
Dan Parisi and his attorney, Peter Kooshoian, are not backing down following an incident with Parisi and Koch in May 2022.
Rosenthal Kooshoian & Lennon, LLP shared Buffalo Police body camera and surveillance video from the incident with Koch on May 7 with 7 News.
"He tried to hit me with his [expletive] car," Parisi said in the body cam video.
This new video shows Parisi visibly upset.
"I swear to God he did. He tried to hit me with his car," Parisi shouted in the video.
Parisi said he pulled up to Oliver's on Delaware Avenue after he spotted the vehicles of Koch and his ex-wife. He said he was upset after learning his daughter was nowhere to be found at first when he went to pick up his son.
In the surveillance video, Parisi said he pulled up in front and spotted Koch sitting in his car. Parisi said he walked out of his truck and approached Koch.
Parisi said that's when Koch drove into him.
"I thought I was dead," Parisi said.
He said he broke his hand and injured his back as a result of the impact.
"He pulls up in front of me. I'm pulling out. He cuts me off. Smashes into me and he comes out and starts saying I'm gonna [expletive] kill you," Koch told police in the body cam video.
7 News' Kristen Mirand asked Parisi why he feels the need to talk about this nearly a year after the incident.
"I'm just really unhappy with the way that this was treated by the district attorney," he replied.
In May 2022, Erie County District Attorney, John Flynn, charged Koch with one count of reckless endangerment in the first-degree felony charge, but those charges were later reduced, then dropped months later by Buffalo City Court Judge Andrew LoTempio.
LoTempio ruled that Parisi went looking for trouble that night, and the events that followed did "not arise to proper subject for criminal litigation."
"He got treated completely differently because of who he was," Parisi said.
"I'm just really unhappy with the way this was handled. I really just wish that I got my day in court."
Retired Supreme Court Justice Penny Wolfgang said she assumes the attorneys, in this case, were preparing to take this case further.
"As they did so, talk to witnesses, looked at the proof again, and determined, 'No, we don't enough to bring charges in this case,'" Wolfgang said.
The DA's office said while it opposed the motion to dismiss the charges, the office can no longer comment on this as it is "now sealed by operation of law."
Mirand did reach out to Koch's attorney, Paul Cambria. In a phone call, Cambria said they have nothing more to say and the judge's decision is final.
Still, Parisi said his fight isn't over. His attorney plans to file the lawsuit against Koch by the end of March.
