An Erie County (New York) grand jury declined to indict two Buffalo police officers who shoved an elderly man to the ground, causing him to bleed from the ear and head, during last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests in the city, the New York Post reports.
In June, 75-year-old Martin Gugino attended a protest after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. A Buffalo special response unit, trying to break up the crowd, march toward the group of protestors. Holding a sign, Gugino was standing between the police and the crowd, and officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski were caught on video shoving Gugino, who fell backwards on the sidewalk, hitting his head.
Gugino suffered a fractured skull in the fall and spent a month in the hospital recovering from the injury and other brain trauma.
The Erie County District Attorney John Flynn originally charged the two officers with felonies, prompting the other officers in the special squad to resign from the squad in protest. The grand jury opted to not support the charges, and the DA dropped the case.