Two Buffalo police officers have been suspended after a viral video showed them shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground on Thursday night. were charged with second-degree assault, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.
A now-viral video of the incident shows longtime social justice activist Martin Gugino, 75, approaching officers before he is apparently shoved and falls back onto the ground.
Two Buffalo officers who were suspended without pay after a video showed police shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground at a George Floyd protest on Thursday night, were charged with second-degree assault, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.
Two Buffalo police officers were suspended without pay Thursday after a video showed authorities knocking down a 75-year-old man during a protest, Mayor Byron Brown said.
The graphic video shared on Twitter shows a man walking up to Buffalo Police Department officers. It is unclear if he exchanged words with the officers before he is shoved to the sidewalk. The man stumbles back and falls and the video shows him motionless and bleeding from his head.
After the man falls, a person shouts, “He’s bleeding from his ears!” Someone else shouts, “Get a medic!” The reporter recording the video is then told to back up.
The video drew immediate condemnation.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown issued a statement late Thursday, saying the man in the video is 75 years old and at the hospital in “serious but stable” condition.
“I was deeply disturbed by the video, as was Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood,” Brown said in the statement, which was posted to Twitter. “He directed an immediate investigation into the matter, and the two officers have been suspended without pay.
“After days of peaceful protests and several meetings between myself, police leadership and members of the community, tonight’s event is disheartening.”
“This incident is wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful,” the governor said in a tweet.
He added, “Police Officers must enforce — NOT ABUSE — the law.”
