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2020.06.06 23:52 GMT+8

Two Buffalo police officers charged with assault after shoving 75-year-old protester

Updated 2020.06.06 23:52 GMT+8

A screenshot of the view showing the police officer shoving 75-year-old Martin Gugino.

Two Buffalo police officers were charged with assault Saturday after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, who was hospitalized with a head injury, prosecutors said.

Both of the officers pleaded not guilty to second-degree assaults and were released without bail.

The officers had been suspended on Thursday night after TV crew captured the incident.

The 75-year-old man was identified as Martin Gugino and is currently hospitalized with a head injury, according to the New York Post.

This video taken by WBFO, a local radio station, shows the 75-year-old protester approaching a group of officers during a protest against the death of George Floyd shortly after Buffalo's curfew began on Thursday evening in Buffalo, New York.

In the video, Gugino tried to stop a group of the officers and to talk while an officer yells "push him back," and then another one extends his baton toward Gugino. Several seconds later, Gugino fell backward and blood can be seen leaking from his ear.

An officer then leaned down to examine the old man but then was pulled away by another. Several other officers were captured walking by the motionless old man without looking in his direction.

In response to the suspension of the two officers, all 57 members of the Buffalo Police Department's Emergency Response Team resigned on Friday to display solidarity with their colleagues.

Source(s): AP
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