Two police officers in Buffalo, New York, who shoved a 75-year-old man to the ground during a demonstration in response to the killing of George Floyd have been suspended following the release of video of the attack, which has been viewed tens of millions of times on social media.
The man who was pushed down, identified as Martin Gugino, is a longtime peace activist from nearby Amherst, New York. Terrence Bisson, a friend of Gugino, described the activist as a “gentle person who really believes that he must stand up for what he thinks is right.”
“He would never resist physically any kind of orders,” Bisson added.
The police violence against Gugino was captured on video and shared to social media on Thursday night. As of 9 a.m. on Friday morning, the original video had been viewed close to 60 million times.
Gugino addressed Buffalo police officers in a non-threatening way during a demonstration that took place just after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew went into effect on Thursday. According to the video, it appears as though Gugino was attempting to have a conversation with officers before the physical confrontation started. Yelling ensues, with demands for Gugino to back away. Before he can react, one of the officers reaches toward him, pushing Gugino backward.
The video shows Gugino falling to the ground due to the push, hitting the back of his head on the sidewalk hard. Blood is visible on the ground underneath his wound.
Around 10 p.m. on Thursday night, the Buffalo Police Department opened an investigation into the attack, according to Mayor Byron Brown, who also viewed the video that evening.
“I was deeply disturbed by the video, as was Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood,” Brown said in a statement. “He directed an immediate investigation into the matter, and the two officers have been suspended without pay.”
Some local officials say the suspensions aren’t good enough, however.
“Simply put, the officers must be held responsible for their actions, not just fired,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz wrote on Twitter.
Although the police department did suspend two officers involved in pushing Gugino, their initial reaction to the incident was to downplay what had actually happened. In a statement about the matter, the department wrote, “During [a] skirmish involving protestors, one person was injured when he tripped & fell,” failing to mention the officers’ roles in the fall.
Gugino suffered a concussion and lacerations as a result of his fall, but is reportedly in stable condition at the moment.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy