Elderly Man Pushed by Buffalo Officers Sues City After Grand Jury Dismisses Charges
An elderly man who was pushed by police officers in New York last year is suing the city after a grand jury dismissed charges against the law enforcement officials.
Martin Gugino, 75, is seeking a jury trial and damages, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
In the 55-page filing, Gugino’s attorneys argue Buffalo officials violated the man’s constitutional rights by imposing a week-long curfew and selectivity enforcing it against “peaceful protesters,” including him.
“Mere minutes after the 8 p.m. city-wide curfew, three of the Defendants, Police Officer Robert McCabe, Police Officer Aaron Torgalski and Police Officer John Losi, unlawfully, unreasonably and forcibly assaulted Plaintiff, Martin Gugino, 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 Const
Lawyers representing a 75-year-old protester 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.
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An elderly protester who was shoved to the ground by police officers in Buffalo, New York, sued the city on Monday after a grand jury dismissed assault charges in connection to the June incident.
Lawyers for 75-year-old Martin Gugino alleged that high-ranking officials and three uniformed officers violated his constitutional rights when they enacted a week long curfew and employed unlawful and unnecessary force against him during protests in the upstate New York following the death of George Floyd. Gugino s legal team, which has requested a jury trial for the civil suit, further posited that Officers Robert McCabe, Aaron Torgalski, and John Losi shoved the 75-year-old man to the ground without warning and walked by without care as he lay unconscious on the sidewalk, blood pouring from his fractured skull.
Grand Jury Dismisses Charges Against Cops Who Pushed Elderly Protester Martin Gugino
On 2/11/21 at 8:54 PM EST
Members of a New York grand jury dismissed felony assault charges against two Buffalo, New York police officers who pushed elderly protester Martin Gugino to the ground during a Black Lives Matter march in June 2020.
Officers Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe were captured on video shoving Gugino onto the sidewalk in front of Buffalo City Hall. Officers can be observed in the video walking past Gugino as he lay on the ground with his head bleeding. Gugino was 75 years old at the time of the incident, which left Gugino with a fractured skull and a temporary inability to walk.
An Erie County Grand Jury has voted not to indict Buffalo Police officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski on charges stemming from a June protest where