Lysander (WSYR-TV) -- A coffee spill in the town of Lysander still has people talking. NewsChannel 9 first told you about former town supervisor Barry Bullis who was recently arrested, accused of intentionally damaging recording equipment belonging to a rival Tuesday night.
Bullis’ once political rival Fred Burtch recorded the incident and is accusing the Lysander town clerk of egging on Bullis right before the spill.
On Thursday we spoke to Town Clerk Lisa Dell’s attorney who says Dell had no part in the incident and they’re launching an investigation of their own on whether or not the tape should have been rolling in the first place.
Two days after Bullis lost his campaign for re-election you see the infamous spill, but what happened in the moments leading up to it? Burtch says you can see an exchange between both Dell and Bullis.
“She mouths, ‘Do something;’ he says, ‘I’ll spill my coffee,’” Burtch explained.
The tape also picks up Dell saying, “I’ll push you, I’ll push you.” But Dell’s lawyer says his client wasn’t involved and was instead taking part in a private conversation.
“We've listened to the tape and we're really in the beginning stages of the investigation as to what did occur there. But the tape is really clear that Ms. Dell was 20 feet away from Mr. Bullis,” Dell’s attorney Paul Carey said. "If you look at the tape, Ms. Dell was clearly upset by what Mr. Bullis did and turns her attention and distances herself as everyone else did."
The video was recorded after a town meeting had ended, which is why Carey has contacted the District Attorney’s Office about a possible eavesdropping case.
"Did Mr. Burtch have the right to leave that tape running when obviously the town meeting was over and there were private conversations taking place? That might be a crime,” Carey said.
Burtch says he’s recorded many town meetings before and his recording equipment was set out in the open, where he says he always placed it. Burtch says packing the equipment up that day took a little longer, but it was no more than five minutes after the meeting had ended.
Bullis has been charged with criminal mischief and is set to appear in court next month. Bullis has not returned our calls.
