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Police Officer

Craig E. Lehner

Buffalo Police Department — Buffalo, NY

Veteran → Accident

End of Watch October 13, 2017

Age 34

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

The Vigil Panel 167 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 50

Incident

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.

Survivors

He is survived by his mother and sister.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-NY-84A4163D
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Also honored at salute.nw — U.S. Army. One record, 2 gates. Craig is one person.

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Tributes

I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Police Officer Lehner gave the Buffalo Police Department 9 years.
Thank you for your service to the Buffalo community. Thank you for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Buffalo Police Department

Type Police Department

Location Buffalo, Erie County, NY

Platform Identity bpd.erie.ny.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 13, 2017

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

Age 34

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Military Service

Craig E. Lehner served in the U.S. Army before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Police Officer Craig E. Lehner is one of 1 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,759 officers honored here.

In NY, 645 of 2,147 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 30% of this state's fallen. That is 30 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

At Buffalo Police Department, 26 of 51 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 51% of this agency's fallen.

Buffalo Police Department

of 51 officers

51% Accident

NY — Statewide

645

of 2,147 officers

30% Accident

Nationwide

of 97,759 officers

0% Accident