New Video Shows Moment Buffalo Cops Shoved 75-Year-Old Protester

A newly released video shows the moment a Buffalo police officer shoved 75-year-old Martin Gugino during a June 2020 anti-police brutality protest, spurring national outrage. “You’re using those sticks,” Gugino is heard saying in the video as he walked toward the approaching police line near Niagara Square, commenting on the batons most of the officers carried. A few seconds later, two of those officers—Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32—push Gugino and leave him in a pool of blood. The pair were originally charged with assault in the second degree, a Class D felony, for the June 4 incident, though a grand jury in February declined to indict them. According to the Buffalo News, the new video was released Monday along with more than 16 hours of body-cam footage of the incident under the state’s Freedom of Information Law. In one video, McCabe is seen briefly stopping near Gugino’s motionless body—bending toward him before being pushed by a supervisor.