Two Buffalo police officers are suspended without pay after video shows them shoving a 75-year-old man before he staggers and cracks his head on the sidewalk
- Shocking video shows two Buffalo cops in riot gear shoving a man to the ground
- The 75-year-old, who was not identified, staggers before falling on his head
- The sound of a crack is heard and then blood is seen trickling from his head
Two Buffalo, New York, police officers have been suspended without pay after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground, as protests over the police killing of George Floyd continued into their tenth night.
The footage taken by a reporter from local radio station WBFO and posted online shows the white-haired man approaching a line of officers in riot gear after the city’s curfew went into effect.
One officer pushes him with a baton and a second one pushes him with his hand.
The sound of a crack is heard and then blood is seen trickling from the man’s head.
He was taken to the hospital where he’s in stable but serious condition, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said.
An initial statement released by Buffalo Police said a person ‘was injured when he tripped & fell.’ The two cops are now under investigation.
An elderly man was seen approaching Buffalo police officers in riot gear outside of City Hall on Thursday
Shocking video showed two officers inexplicably shoving him before he staggers and falls to the ground
The sound of a crack is heard on the video before blood is seen trickling out of the man’s head
The video shows the majority of the officers march past, though the officer who pushed the man with the baton starts to lean over him before he is motioned away by another officer.
Someone is then heard calling for a medic.
The radio station reported that two medics came forward and helped the man, who has not been identified, into an ambulance.
Mayor Brown later addressed the incident in a statement saying he was ‘deeply disturbed by the video.’
‘Tonight, after a physical altercation between two separate groups of protesters participating in an illegal demonstration beyond the curfew, two Buffalo Police officers knocked down a 75-year-old man. The victim is in stable but serious condition at ECMC,’ he said.
‘After days of peaceful protests and several meetings between myself, police leadership and members of the community, tonight’s event is disheartening.’
The incident drew widespread condemnation on social media as protesters returned to the streets of several U.S. cities to demonstrate against police brutality.
Many of the officers continued marching, while two cops leaned over to check on the man
Governor Cuomo responded to the incident on Twitter calling it ‘utterly disgraceful’
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemned the incident as ‘wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful.’
He also said on Twitter that he spoke with Mayor Brown and agreed that the officers involved should be suspended, pending a formal investigation.
He wrote: ‘Police Officers must enforce – NOT ABUSE – the law.’
WIVB-TV reports that Buffalo police initially said in a statement a person ‘was injured when he tripped & fell.’
But Capt. Jeff Rinaldo later told the TV station that an internal affairs investigation was opened.
Later Thursday, news outlets reported that Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood suspended two officers without pay.
New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office has tweeted that they’re aware of the video.