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Buffalo Police Officers Cleared In BLM Protest
Buffalo police officers cleared for pushing over 75-year-old BLM protester
Two Buffalo police officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing after a video surfaced of them pushing over a 75-year-old man during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020.
The two officers were a part of a police line that was clearing protesters out of the area near the city hall when they approached demonstrator Martin Gugino.
In the video, both Torgalski and McCabe appear to shove Gugino, who then loses his balance and falls to the ground, cracking his head on the concrete pavement. Gugino spent multiple weeks at the hospital recovering from his wounds.
In a court ruling on Friday, arbitrator Jeffrey Selchick said that Gugino wasn’t an innocent bystander and that no evidence proved the two officers deliberately tried to injure him.
Selchick also said in his ruling that the 75-year-old man may have surprised the officers, which could interfere with the officer’s performance of their duties, the ruling said.
