Buffalo Cops Who Knocked Peaceful Protester To The Ground Charged With Assault
Two Buffalo, New York, police officers have each been charged with second-degree assault for their roles in an incident that left a protester seriously injured.
Both pleaded not guilty to the charges, which are felonies due to the age of the victim.
A widely circulated video shows police shoving Martin Gugino, 75, before he falls backward to the ground, smacking his head and beginning to bleed from the ear, apparently unconscious.
Gugino was taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood suspended Officers Robert McCabe, 39, and Aaron Torgalski, 32, without pay on Thursday night and ordered an internal investigation. In response to the disciplinary action, all 57 members of the Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response Team “resigned in disgust” from their spots in the crowd-control unit, John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told WGRZ Friday afternoon.
Graphic video captured by local media, which can be seen in the tweet below, shows Gugino walking up to officers in Buffalo’s Niagara Square as they begin to enforce the city’s 8 p.m. curfew. Two cops aggressively push Gugino, causing him to fall. His head hits the pavement with an audible thud. The officers stop to look while Gugino lies motionless, blood pooling by his ear, until a third officer steps in and motions for them to keep walking.
The department initially said Gugino “tripped and fell,” a description that does not accurately depict the encounter.
Just about an hour ago, police officers shove man in Niagara Square to the ground (WARNING: Graphic). Video from: @MikeDesmondWBFOpic.twitter.com/JBKQLvzfET
— WBFO (@WBFO) June 5, 2020
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn called for reforms in a press conference immediately following the arraignments, saying that the “optics” of law enforcement’s handling of protesters have consequences. He then sought to...
