NY officers charged in shoving
ALBANY, N.Y. – Two suspended Buffalo police officers were charged with second-degree assault Saturday amid outcry over video showing a 75year-old man shoved and flopping backward on a sidewalk, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said.
Officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski pleaded not guilty to the charges and were expected in court July 20 for a felony hearing.
All 57 of the members of the Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response
Team resigned from the unit Friday after the two were suspended. The unit members have not quit the police department.
Martin Gugino, the man who was pushed, was in “serious but stable condition. He is alert and oriented,” said his attorney, Kelly V. Zarcone.
Video from WBFO shows the two officers pushing Gugino down as he approached them in a public square around an 8 p.m. curfew Thursday. Gugino stumbles back and falls, and the video shows him motionless and bleeding from his head.
“Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square,” Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans said Friday. “It doesn’t specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job.”
The officer’s actions quickly drew condemnation from around the state, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo who said the “incident is wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful.”