SNAFU
His name is Martin Gugino, and authorities said he was taken to hospital, where he was in a stable but serious condition on Friday.
Mr Gugino is a longtime social justice activist in Buffalo, according to advocacy group Push (People United for Sustainable Housing).
He “has been a tireless fighter against injustice of all types for many years in our city both with Push and other grassroots organizations,” they said in a statement, condemning police for his treatment.
The two officers who did the pushing were charged with Assault in the Second Degree which is a D Felony in New York. The other members of the riot team resigned from the riot squad because “the officers were only following orders.” That is called the Nuremberg Defense, and it didn’t work for the senior Nazi officials who committed war crimes in World War II, and it won’t work in New York State. In addition I can assure you that the commander at that scene will make it clear that he didn’t order anyone to push a senior citizen to the concrete sidewalk (even if he did).
I was in the military and law enforcement. In both basic training and the police academy it was made crystal clear that you were responsible for your own actions and would be liable for following illegal orders.
Other video of the area showed that there was almost no one around which makes this even more unreasonable. Buffalo is a city, there are always people on the street and the police aren’t out there sweeping up every day. People have been cooped up inside because of the pandemic and want to get some air. Given that Mr. Gugino is a longtime activist you would think that the riot squad would know him and say ‘Hi!’ not bust his skull on the concrete.
