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2 Buffalo Police Officers Charged in Shoving of 75-Year-Old Demonstrator

More than 100 police officers, firefighters and other supporters crowded outside the courthouse in Buffalo to protest the assault charges filed against the officers.

The Buffalo police officers, Robert McCabe, 32, left, and Aaron Torgalski, 39, were each charged with felony assault.Credit...Erie County District Attorney

Two Buffalo police officers were charged on Saturday with felony assault after a video showed officers shoving a 75-year-old man who was protesting outside City Hall on Thursday night, officials said.

“We had two of our police officers who crossed the line,” the Erie County district attorney, John J. Flynn, told reporters after the arraignment. “My job is to prosecute those who have violated the law, plain and simple. And I believe, and I’m alleging, that these two officers violated the law.”

Prosecutors identified the officers as Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32. They pleaded not guilty and were released on personal recognizance.

The charges were filed after a widely viewed video taken by WBFO, a local radio station, showed two police officers appearing to shove Martin Gugino, who has been identified as an activist and a member of the Western New York Peace Center who was attending a protest stemming from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

[Who is Martin Gugino? Read more on the Buffalo protester.]

Mr. Gugino, who was shoved after he approached officers, staggered backward and landed hard on the sidewalk. Blood was seen immediately pooling behind his head.

The two officers were suspended without pay, a move that incited outrage from the rank and file. The president of the officers’ union, the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told The Buffalo News that the city’s actions led all 57 officers on the Emergency Response Team to quit the unit.

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Supporters of the two Buffalo police officers charged in the assault of a protester gathered outside the courthouse on Saturday.Credit...Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News

Officers Torgalski and McCabe were assigned to the team, a special squad formed to respond to riots.

Mayor Byron Brown said on MSNBC on Friday that the union had threatened officers in the unit that they would no longer be supported by the organization if they did not agree to resign.

“This union has been on the wrong side of history for a very long period of time and they have been a real barrier to reform of policing in the city of Buffalo,” he said.

A union representative could not be reached. John Evans, its president, told WIVB-TV that the assault charges were “totally unwarranted” and thanked the police, firefighters and others who showed up to the courthouse to support the two men.

“It was tremendous, tremendous to see,” Mr. Evans said. “I just think it’s a strong indication of the outrage basically over this travesty.”

Prosecutors said the officers appeared in court on Saturday morning after their lawyers were told about the charges against them.

The video of the incident spread rapidly across social media, fueling outrage over the growing body of videos showing officers responding to protests against police violence with more police violence.

The fury only intensified when the Police Department first claimed that Mr. Gugino “tripped and fell,” a description at direct odds with the video.

Mr. Flynn, the district attorney, said that if Mr. Gugino was violating curfew and refused to move, officers should have moved to arrest him.

“You don’t take a baton and shove him,” he said, noting that the other officer shoved Mr. Gugino with his right hand, knocking him down. “That’s what you don’t do. You properly arrest him if he was committing a crime.”

Mr. Flynn said Mr. Gugino was still hospitalized and in serious condition.

Under New York law, a person who attacks someone 65 or older and is more than 10 years younger than the victim can be charged with felony assault, Mr. Flynn said. If convicted, the officers face up to seven years in prison.

During the arraignment, supporters gathered outside the courthouse, some of them holding the American flag. Others wore T-shirts that said “BPD Strong.”

A handful of counterprotesters showed up with megaphones, chanting, “Support good cops, not bad cops.” One counterprotester chanted, “Don’t push old men.” The crowd of police supporters stared back at them but remained peaceful.

When Officers Torgalski and McCabe left the courthouse, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. Some appeared to hold up a sheet to shield the men from news cameras.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Saturday commended city and county officials for suspending and charging the officers.

“I think there was criminal liability, from what I saw on the video,” he said. “I applaud them for acting as quickly as they did. There is no tolerance for delaying justice in society anymore.”

Mr. Cuomo added: “What we saw was horrendous and disgusting, and I believe, illegal.”

In Buffalo, Stefan I. Mychajliw, comptroller of Erie County, posted a video of himself on Twitter outside the courthouse, where he said he stood in solidarity with the Buffalo police. He called politicians who weren’t supporting officers “cowardly.”

“Right now, we need strong leaders who believe in the rule of law,” said Mr. Mychajliw, who is running for a congressional seat in a district that includes the Buffalo suburbs. “Right now, radical progressives are attacking police and they want chaos and they want anarchy. Enough is enough.”

A correction was made on 
June 6, 2020

An earlier version of this article and a picture caption misstated the surname of one of the officers. It is Aaron Torgalski, not Torglaski. 

How we handle corrections

Maria Cramer is a breaking news reporter on the Express Desk.  More about Maria Cramer

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 26 of the New York edition with the headline: Officers Charged With Shoving 75-Year-Old. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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