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ENTIRE emergency response team of Buffalo Police Department resigns over suspension of cops who pushed elderly protester
The officers resigned from their positions en masse on Friday after their colleagues were suspended without pay the previous night as a “show of support and disgust,” local media reported. They have not quit the police department entirely, however.
The Erie County District Attorney is investigating an incident – caught on video – in which two members of the Emergency Response Team pushed a 75-year-old demonstrator to the ground in the process of clearing the area in front of the Buffalo City Hall. While they initially claimed the man fell, video later emerged showing the men shoving him without apparent provocation.
Victim Martin Gugino, reportedly a long-time activist well known in the community, is hospitalized and said to be in serious but stable condition.
Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz said he was “exceptionally disappointed” about the spate of resignations, as “it indicates to me that they did not see anything wrong” with the officer’s actions. The mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, meanwhile, said the city had “contingency plans” in place to maintain police services while the matter is sorted out.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has called for the Buffalo police chief to fire the two officers involved in the incident, calling it “fundamentally offensive and frightening.”
The police union has defended the two officers’ actions, claiming they were merely following orders to clear the square for curfew. While it has pledged to pay for those officers’ legal defense, the union announced on Friday that it would no longer cover legal fees going forward for other police officers involved in the ongoing protests against police brutality - an announcement likely linked to the 57 officers’ decision to step down from the riot control team.
The mass resignation was greeted with jeers on social media.
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