Fifty-seven members of the Buffalo Police Department resigned from a special squad after two officers were suspended for shoving a 75-year-old protester to the ground, causing him to hit his head on the sidewalk and suffer a serious injury, officials said.
Two police officers in New York state's Buffalo city were charged with felony assault after a video showed them pushing an elderly protester to the ground last week, prosecutors said.
Robert McCabe, 32, and Aaron Torgalski, 39, pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault on Saturday, reports Xinhua news agency.
They were released without bail, according to the Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, who said at a press conference on Saturday that the officers "crossed a line".
The two officers were removing protesters from the Niagara Square in Buffalo on June 4 after the 8 p.m. curfew, when 75-year-old Martin Gugino approached them alone during an anti-police-brutality protest over the death African-American man George Floyd. The officers, who were enforcing the curfew, yelled out "move!" and "push him back!"
The officers were captured on video pushing Gugino, who then staggered and fell backwards with his head hitting the ground.
One officer can be seen pushing the man with an outstretched arm, while another shoves a baton into him. A third officer appears to shove colleagues toward the man.
The man falls to the ground. His head whips backwards onto the pavement, and then he lies motionless.
“He’s bleeding out of his ear!” someone yells as blood pools beneath the man’s head.
The officers then keep walking, leaving the man on the ground, before two state police officers step in to provide aid.
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Gugino was sent to the hospital and remained in serious condition. The two officers were suspended without pay on Friday.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called the incident "fundamentally offensive and frightening" at Friday's briefing.
"You see that video and it disturbs your basic sense of decency and humanity," said Cuomo.
"Why was that necessary? Where is the threat?"
Cuomo said he had talked to both Buffalo Mayor and Gugino on the phone, adding that the city should consider firing the officers and "look at the situation for possible criminal charges".
Reportedly, on Friday, the police department’s entire emergency response team resigned from the squad in protest of their colleagues’ suspension. The team was formed in 2016 to respond to civic unrest.
“Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders,” Buffalo Police Benevolent Association president John Evans told local media house.
McCabe and Torgalski were assigned to the unit established for responding to possible riots in George Floyd protests.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz at a news conference on Friday said he was “exceptionally disappointed” by the resignations.
“It indicates to me that they did not see anything wrong with the actions last night, which I think each of us in this room found something wrong with, as well as our governor, the mayor and millions of people across the country — and, for that matter, the world,” he said.
John Evans, President of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told local news channel WIVB-TV that the charges were "totally unwarranted".
A Buffalo police statement initially said that a man was injured when he “tripped and fell” during “a skirmish involving protesters,” in which several people were arrested. That language only amplified the criticism, as the video soon showed it was false.
The two officers are due back in court on July 20 for a felony hearing.
If convicted, they face up to seven years in prison, according to District Attorney Flynn.
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