A woman dressed in Ukrainian colours pours red liquid on herself on the steps of the Palais des Festivals during a screening of the film ‘Acid’, before being removed by security staff.
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Police officers in Buffalo, New York used excessive force to disperse a protest against police brutality on Thursday, shoving a 75-year-old protester who posed no threat to them so hard that he fell to the ground and sustained a bloody head wound. Although the incident took place outside Buffalo’s City Hall, in daylight and in full view of witnesses, including at least five journalists, the Buffalo Police Department initially said in a statement that, during a “skirmish involving protestors, one person was injured when he tripped & fell.”However, that account of what happened was quickly revealed to be a lie. Just over 20 minutes after the police statement was made public, the local NPR affiliate WBFO released distressing video of the incident, which clearly showed that the man only fell to the sidewalk in Niagara Square and hit his head because two officers he tried to talk to shoved him roughly. Although the elderly man hit his head hard on the pavement, and immediately began bleeding from his ear, one officer who had pushed him was stopped from aiding him by another officer who pushed him toward a younger protester, who was sitting on the city hall steps holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign. None of the other officers made any immediate effort to help the injured man. One officer did, however, order the reporter who was filming the incident, Mike Desmond of WBFO, to clear the area. The injured man was hospitalized in serious, but stable condition, according to local officials. He was identified to The Washington Post as the veteran activist Martin Gugino by the group People United for Sustainable Housing Buffalo. The Intercept has not been able to independently confirm the man’s identity, but earlier on Thursday, Gugino had tweeted a photograph of an event in Niagara Square at which state and local officials called for police reform. Video of the incident recorded from across the street by a photojournalist named Anthony Nelson showed just how disproportionate the forceful police action to clear the square was. As the 8 p.m. curfew passed, the officers advanced in military formation despite facing just a handful of protestersAbout 90 minutes after the close-up video was posted online, and prompted national and international condemnation, the mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, announced that the two officers had been suspended without pay, pending an investigation. Brown, however, appeared to endorse the police perspective that force was required to clear the square. The man was injured, Brown wrote, “after a physical altercation between two separate groups of protesters participating in an illegal demonstration beyond the curfew.” There was no evidence in the videos from the scene of any altercation before the police surged forward at the few protesters who remained in Niagara Square.
Two police officers in Buffalo, New York, have been suspended without pay after they were caught on camera shoving a 75-year-old protester, causing him to fall and knock his head to the ground. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday the local district attorney should investigate the case for potential criminal charges.
Barring that, the governor thinks the officers should be fired. Cuomo said he had spoken with the injured protester and said the graphic video of the encounter made him “sick to my stomach.”
Two Buffalo police officers face criminal charges in the shoving of a 75-year-old protester who fell and cracked his head, ABC News has learned.
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President Donald Trump attacked the 75-year-old Buffalo protester who was shoved by police last week. The incident ignited a furor that led to the prosecution of two officers on charges of felony assault. Trump on Tuesday tweeted a wild and, to say the least, unsubstantiated and unproven conspiracy theory about the man, Martin Gugino. “Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?”Ari Fleischer, press secretary under George W. Bush, was among those who quickly reacted to the tweet, writing, “The president’s penchant for trafficking in conspiracy theories is, politically speaking, going to ruin him. This is reckless. He doesn’t know when to stop.”Gugino is in serious but stable condition, according to his attorney. He had been demonstrating in a protest following the death of George Floyd. A local radio station captured him as he was approaching the officers, but was shoved. He fell to the ground and landed on the pavement, as blood pooled under his head. Related StoryDonald Trump Says He’s Retained Pollster To Refute CNN, Other Networks That Show Joe Biden LeadThe officers, Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32, were suspended, but 57 officers resigned from the city’s emergency response unit in a union protest of the sanction. The officers have pleaded not guilty. Trump indicated he had been watching a segment on the incident on One America News Network, a right-leaning network known for its pro-Trump point of view. Elizabeth Harrington, national spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, retweeted Trump’s tweet and linked to a story claiming that Gugino was a “key major instigator” of vandalism and looting during last week’s unrest. The tweet was later deleted. Gugino is longtime peace activist from Amherst, according to the Buffalo News, and has been involved in the Western New York Peace Center. Gugino’s attorney, Kelly Zarcone, told CNN in a statement, “No one from law enforcement has even suggested anything otherwise so we are at a loss to understand why the President of the United States would make such dark, dangerous, and untrue accusations against him. Martin has always been a PEACEFUL protestor because he cares about today’s society.”
Prosecutors were investigating Friday after a video captured police in Buffalo shoving a 75-year-old man who then fell and cracked his head, a confrontation that resulted in the suspension of two officers.
Video of Thursday night’s encounter, which happened near the conclusion of protests over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, quickly sparked outrage.
It shows a man identified as Martin Gugino approaching a line of helmeted officers holding batons as they clear demonstrators from Niagara Square around the time of an 8 p.m. curfew.
Prosecutors are investigating the actions of two Buffalo police officers who were suspended without pay on Thursday night after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, who was hospitalized with a head injury. The video taken by WBFO, a local radio station, shows the man, identified on Friday as Martin Gugino, approaching a group of officers during a protest stemming from the death of George Floyd. He was identified by the Western New York Peace Center, a nonprofit that named him in a Facebook post, saying he is a peace activist and a member. After the video shows Mr. Gugino stopping in front of the officers to talk, an officer yells “push him back” three times; one officer pushes his arm into Mr. Gugino’s chest, while another extends his baton toward him with both hands. Mr. Gugino flails backward, landing just out of range of the camera, with blood immediately leaking from his right ear. An officer leans down to examine him, the video shows, but another officer then pulls the first officer away. Several other officers are seen walking by the man, motionless on the ground, without checking on him. On Friday, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that prosecutors were investigating the incident. It said Mr. Gugino was unable to provide a statement to investigators on Thursday night at the Erie County Medical Center, where he was taken for treatment for the head injury. On Friday, Mr. Gugino was in serious but stable condition and was alert and oriented, according to a hospital spokesman. The video, which rapidly spread across social media, added to a growing body of videos from across the nation that showed officers responding to protests against police violence with more police violence. Fury among online supporters of the protests was heightened by the Police Department’s initial claim that he “tripped and fell, ” a description at direct odds with the video. On Friday, John T. Evans, the president of the Buffalo police union, said all 57 officers on the Emergency Response Team, a special squad formed to respond to riots, had resigned from their posts on the team in support of the suspended officers, according to The Buffalo News. The officers remain members of the department.“These officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square, ” Mr. Evans told The News. “It doesn’t specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don’t know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards. ”The union and the Buffalo Police Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Friday. Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, said the city was aware of the development.“At this time, we can confirm that contingency plans are in place to maintain police services and ensure public safety within our community, ” he said.
