57 Police Officers have resigned from their current positions in direct show of protest and solidarity against the Buffalo police squad after their colleagues who injured a 75-year-old protester got suspended from their post.
The said injured person is the peace activist Martin Gugino, who have had cerebral injuries as a result of the police officers shoved him, making him fall to the ground on his back. The charged police officers have now been called under criminal investigation in addition to the payless suspension they have been given.
The Buffalo Police Benevolent Association have confirmed that all members of the department’s Emergency Response Team have since resigned.
‘Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders,’ PBA president John Evans said. This, however, does not mean they have resigned entirely from their jobs as police officers – it is only that their post in the Emergency Response Team will remain vacant for the time being.
Their group action comes as the Erie County DA Office have been searching for criminality in the above actions taken by the police officers leading up to the incident. ‘The Erie County District Attorney’s Office continues to investigate the incident captured on video outside City Hall Thursday evening that resulted in the injury of (a) protester,’ a spokeswoman for the District Attorney has said.
The man injured has been long committed to social activism, and is from Amherst. The condition is serious, but not fatal as he remains in stable condition at the Erie County Medical Center.
In the viral video that captured his fall to the sidewalk, he is seen with significant amount of hemorrhage that he have spilled falling down. The police department has also been criticized over its initial statement claiming the man had ‘tripped and fell.
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Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said he would “not call for the cops’ termination ahead of the investigation”, saying it was important they get ‘due process.
’ He said Gugino had been in the area after the city’s curfew and had been asked to ‘leave numerous times’ Thursday night. ‘One of the things that happened before that incident, was there was a conflict between protesters.
There was a danger of fights breaking out between protesters. The police felt it was very important to clean that scene for the safety of protesters,’ he added. Mayor Brown also addressed the police department’s statement, which he said had been based on initial reports and was corrected after ‘video evidence started coming in that indicated otherwise.
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Replaced!