Overview

Buffalo Police Shove Elderly Man Video refers to a video taken in Buffalo, New York during the George Floyd Protests in which police push an elderly man, causing him to stumble and hit his head. He is seen bleeding from his ears for several seconds as police walk by and go on to arraign more protestors before someone begins to help him. The incident led to the suspension of two Buffalo police officers. The man is reportedly in stable condition. The video was commented upon as an egregious example of police brutality by viewers who were stunned at the police's actions.

Background

On June 4th, 2020, WBFO,^[1] an NPR affiliate out of Buffalo, New York, tweeted a video from the city's George Floyd Protests taken by journalist Mike Desmond in which an elderly man, later identified as Martin Gugino,^[4] approaches walking police officers who then shove him, causing him to fall and hit his head on the ground. He can then be seen bleeding out of his ears as police continue to walk by before someone stops and helps him. The video has been viewed over 55 million times in just over 12 hours.

Developments

Viewers were aghast upon seeing the video. Twitter user @leyawn^[2] wrote, "i can't watch that again. it's awful. it's so fucking horrible," gaining over 350 retweets and 6,000 likes (shown below, left). User @seantcollins^[3] wrote, "I think the cops rrrrrreally fucked up pushing an elderly white man nearly to his death on camera in broad daylight. I think that one gets famous" (shown below, right).

Buffalo police initially described the incident as a "skirmish" in which a protestor "tripped and fell."^[4] New York Governor Andrew Cuomo^[5] retweeted the video, calling it "wholly unjustified" and "disgraceful." Twitter users were able to dox the police officer in the video.

Buffalo mayor Byron Brown stated the Gugino is in "stable but serious condition," and Buffalo Police spokesman Capt. Jeff Rinaldo stated his injuries were lacerations and a possible concussion. Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood immediately suspended the two officers involved in shoving the man without pay and will launch an investigation into the incident.^[4]

Search Interest

External References