June 11 – Niagara Falls police are investigating a Shantz Avenue couple’s claim that a bailiff, who is also an appointed city marshal, caused a facial injury to their 2-year-old son earlier this month when he threw away a packet of court papers in the boy’s stroller.
Nick Groff and his wife, Tessa DelZoppo, told police the incident occurred on May 13 while Groff was walking with his son in their driveway.
Groff said an unknown man approached him outside his home in the 9100 block of Shantz Avenue and threw a stack of paperwork into the stroller before telling him, “You’ve been served, (expletive).”
Groff and DelZoppo said the paperwork hit their son in the face, scratched his cheek and made him cry. They said the paperwork was related to a family matter involving Groff’s ex-wife.
“He ran over, threw the papers and hit my child in the face,” Groff said in an interview with the newspaper. “It was ridiculous.”
Groff said the man, who police have now identified as Gary Bevilacqua, a local process server who is also the city marshal of Niagara Falls, initially refused to identify himself before handing him a business card before driving away from the scene.
Bevilacqua was not questioned by police at the scene. Falls Police Chief Nicholas Ligammari said he has since spoken to detectives and denied the parents’ version of events.
Reached by phone, Bevilacqua referred questions from the newspaper to his attorney, Matthew Moser. Messages seeking comment from Moser were not returned.
In a copy of the police report of the incident, the responding officer indicates that the child did not appear to be in “pain or distress” after the alleged incident and that the boy was “smiling” when the officer arrived.
“I noticed a small scratch on (the boy’s) cheek,” the officer wrote in his report.
City commissioners file notices as part of the legal process of eviction in Niagara Falls. They are appointed by the mayor, with the approval of a majority of the municipal council. Private process servers are hired by individuals and private companies to primarily serve court subpoenas.
Ligammari said Bevilacqua was working as a private trial counselor for the family court and not as a city marshal at the time of the alleged incident.
