[Police Brutality\Buffalo]
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown: “Two Buffalo Police officers knocked down a 75-year-old man. The victim is in stable but serious condition.”
Photo: YouTube
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, causing him to crack his head on the sidewalk.
The shocking footage, which was taken by a reporter from local radio station WBFO, shows a white-haired man approaching a line of officers in riot gear outside of Buffalo City Hall after the city’s 8 pm curfew on Thursday.
As the man tries to speak to the officers, they immediately begin shouting at him to move along, before one of them pushes him with a baton and a second cop shoves him with his hand.
The elderly man is then seen staggering before falling back and hitting his head on the sidewalk. The sound of a crack is heard and then blood is seen trickling from his head.
The man, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital where he is now in serious condition, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said.
Buffalo Police initially released a statement saying a person “was injured when he tripped & fell.”
The two cops are now under investigation.
The incident has drawn widespread condemnation on social media as nationwide protests against the death of George Floyd and police brutality entered their tenth night.
After the man hits the ground, the majority of the officers are seen marching past, though the cop who pushed him with a baton pauses to lean over, before he is motioned away by another officer. Someone is then heard calling for a medic.
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.’
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released a press statement saying: “The incident in Buffalo is wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful. I’ve spoken with City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and we agree that the officers involved should be immediately suspended. Police officers must enforce – NOT ABUSE – the law.”
For the rest of this Daily Mail story log on to: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8390857/Two-Buffalo-police-officers-suspended-video-shows-shoving-elderly-man-ground.html
