PUSH COPS CHARGED

Two Buffalo cops are charged with assault for shoving peace activist, 75, during protests and hide from cameras in court - while hundreds of colleagues gather outside in solidarity over their 'disgusting' treatment 

 

Daily Mail 

June 6, 2020

 

Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe were each charged with one count of assault in the second degree over the shocking incident that left peaceful protester Martin Gugino in a 'serious condition' in hospital. 

 

The cops were arraigned Saturday morning in a virtual court hearing where they both pleaded not guilty to the charges. They each face up to seven years in prison if convicted of the class D felony. They will appear in court on July 20. 

 

The announcement came as hundreds of non-uniformed cops gathered outside the city court in the latest show of support of their colleagues, one day after the entire 57-strong Buffalo Police Department's Emergency Response Team resigned in outrage at their suspension without pay. 

 

Shocking footage showed the two cops pushing 75-year-old Gugino to the ground, causing him to crack his head on the ground. The two cops were suspended without pay immediately and calls mounted for them to be fired. 

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Buffalo mayor says 75-year-old man who was shoved to the ground by police was an 'agitator trying to spark up crowd of protesters' and won't fire two cops amid the ongoing investigation because it's 'very important they get due process'

 

Daily Mail 

June 5, 2020

 

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has said the 75-year-old man who was shoved to the ground by two cops on Thursday was an 'agitator' who tried to work up the crowd and had been asked to leave the area 'numerous' times.

Brown addressed the incident in a press conference on Friday after 57 officers on the Emergency Response Team resigned from their positions in support of their two colleagues who were suspended without pay after video showed them pushing protester Martin Gugino and causing him to fall and hit his head. 

Gugino, a longtime peace activist from Amherst, had been at a protest at Niagara Square near Buffalo City Hall when he approached a line of officers in riot gear after the city's 8pm curfew went into effect. 

'What we were informed of is that that individual was an agitator. He was trying to spark up the crowd of people. Those people were there into the darkness. Our concern is when it gets dark, there is a potential for violence,' Brown said.

 

 'There has been vandalism, there have been fires set, there have been stores broken into and looted. According to what was reported to me, that individual was a key major instigator of people engaging in those activities.'  

 

 The mayor said he will not call for the two officers to be fired amid the ongoing investigation, adding it was 'very important they get due process.'