Two Buffalo police officers who pushed a 75-year-old protester before he fell and cracked his head pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault Saturday morning in connection with the incident, reports The Associated Press.
Footage of the incident, which went viral on Thursday and has since garnered nearly 80 million views on Twitter, shows the protester, identified as local activist Martin Gugino, approaching the officers around the time of the 8pm curfew. The officers push him backward before he stumbles and hits the back of his head on the pavement.
The graphic footage, attached below, shows blood pooling beneath Gugino’s head as unidentified voices repeatedly shout “he’s bleeding out of his ear.” He was reportedly in serious but stable condition as of Thursday evening, according to Buffalo News.
This guy is bleeding from his skull and the police have the nerve to tell the media he “tripped” pic.twitter.com/WPjvZNAneo
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) June 5, 2020
Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalsk, two of the officers charged in the incident, were promptly suspended without pay. They turned themselves in to authorities on Saturday morning, and have since been released without bail, reports AP.
“I think there was criminal liability from what I saw on the video,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo during a press conference on Saturday, also remarking, “What we saw was horrendous and disgusting, and I believe, illegal.”
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the Buffalo Police Department originally claimed that the man tripped and fell during an encounter, but did not mention that officers pushed him. After the officers were suspended, dozens of other officers resigned from the department’s crowd control unit, a move the union purportedly claimed was in “disgust” with the situation and that the officers were “simply following orders.”
THREAD: I am told it is the ENTIRE Emergency Reaponse team. The Union tells me it fully understands their “disgust” “These officers were simply following orders given by DPC Joe Gramaglia to clear the Square” @wkbw
— Hannah Buehler (@HannahBuehler) June 5, 2020
However, two officers who spoke to WKBW on the condition their names not be used have disputed the claim that the resignation was in solidarity, with one mentioning that many resigned because the union said it would no longer pay protest-related legal fees.
“Why would we stand on a line for the city with no legal backing if something [were to] happen? Has nothing to do with us supporting,” said an officer, reports the news agency.
“I don’t understand why the union said it’s a thing of solidarity. I think it sends the wrong message that ‘we’re backing our own’ and that’s not the case,” said one officer, reports the news agency.
“Some of them probably resigned because they support the officer,” an officer told the news agency. “But, for many of us, that’s not true.”
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