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NY protester, 75, shoved by Buffalo police files lawsuit after cops' charges dropped

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Killer Cops Again! WHERE IS BLM?

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Oct 1, 2021, 10:50:02 PM10/1/21
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Lawyers representing a 75-year-old protester who was shoved to
the ground by upstate New York police during demonstrations that
broke out in the days after George Floyd’s death filed a widely
anticipated lawsuit in federal court Monday, less than two weeks
after criminal charges against the officers involved were
dropped.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western
District of New York alleges that the City of Buffalo, Mayor
Byron Brown, Police Commissioner Byron C. Lockwood and Deputy
Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia violated longtime activist
Martin Gugino’s rights by enacting an "unconstitutional" and
"draconian" weeklong 8 p.m. curfew that "was selectively
enforced against peaceful protesters."

CHICAGO POLICE RIPPED OVER GEORGE FLOYD UNREST RESPONSE IN
SCATHING NEW WATCHDOG REPORT

It also accuses Buffalo police officers Robert McCabe, Aaron
Torgalski and John Losi of using "unlawful and unnecessary
force" against Gugino by City Hall "by shoving him without
warning in violation of his clearly established constitutional
rights guaranteed under the First, Fourth and Fourteenth
Amendments to the United States Constitution." Gugino was
knocked unconscious and laid on the sidewalk with "blood pouring
from his fractured skull," according to the court documents.

The 55-page lawsuit seeks economic, non-economic and punitive
damages after a grand jury declined to indict McCabe and
Torgalski on felony assault charges. Erie County District
Attorney John Flynn said he didn't necessarily feel that
altercation caught on camera rose to the level of a felony but
state law required prosecutors to bring such a charge when a
victim is at least 65 and the suspected perpetrators are at
least 10 years younger.

On June 4, 2020, the Buffalo Police Department deployed a 57-
member militarized force called the "emergency response team" to
disperse three people, one of which was Gugino, sitting on the
steps of City Hall.

Video recorded by a local news crew went viral in the height of
the George Floyd protests around the nation showed the team
march forward in formation toward three people sitting on the
stress of Buffalo City Hall, yelling, "Move Forward March."

Minutes after the 8 p.m. curfew, Gugino stood up from the steps
and walked toward the officers, when the team in tactical gear
then yelled out in chorus, "Push him, push him," according to
the lawsuit. Losi shoved McCabe and Torgalski toward Gugino.

They forcibly pushed Gugino to the ground, according to the
lawsuit. He then stumbled and fell backward. Members of the
emergency response team walked by Gugino as he lay unconscious
on the ground, according to the lawsuit.

BUFFALO POLICE OFFICERS SEEN SHOVING ELDERLY PROTESTER HAVE
CHARGES DROPPED

"Gugino became the victim of police brutality at the very moment
he was peaceably and constitutionally protesting against police
brutality," one of his attorneys, Richard Weisbeck, said in a
statement. "If the roles were reversed, and Gugino pushed a BPD
officer who then fractured his skull, he would have been
immediately indicted, and for good reason."

Gugino was transported to Erie County Medical Center having
suffered a concussion and fractured skull. He was initially
treated in the intensive care unit and released four weeks later
on June 30.

The lawsuit cited a statement released by the Buffalo Police
Department immediately after the incident that claims someone
"tripped & fell" outside City Hall. The mayor issued a statement
saying that someone who was involved in a "physical altercation"
was "knocked down."

McCabe and Torgalski were suspended without pay and arrested
within days of the incident. They pleaded not guilty and were
released without bail pending further developments.

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The Buffalo Police Benevolent Association has repeatedly argued
that the officers did nothing wrong other than enforce the
curfew. All 57 members of the emergency response team resigned
from their positions, which the police union’s president John
Evans publicly stated was "to support the two suspended
officers, and in disgust of how the administration is handling
the entire incident," the lawsuit says.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-protester-buffalo-police-
files-lawsuit-cops-charges-dropped
 

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