Buffalo Officers Seen on Video Shoving Elderly Man to Ground Are Suspended Without Pay

Two police officers seen on video in Buffalo shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground before walking by as he lay with blood pooling around his head have been suspended without pay. The man, later identified as local activist Martin Gugino, appeared to show an officer something on his cell phone before being pushed over.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo strongly condemned the incident, saying "Police officers walked by. It's just fundamentally offensive and frightening!"

The disturbing encounter is among dozens of recent incidents of police brutality in the wake of civil unrest following the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis black man who died after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The NYPD is coming under fire after they arrested a food deliveryman for supposedly violating the city's 8 p.m. curfew, even though he is an essential worker. 

"Any essential worker doing their job is exempt from the curfew - and we are making that abundantly clear to everyone, including the NYPD," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

In Los Angeles cops arrested a cameraman as he was recording an arrest. A child in Seattle was peppered by police. 

"It's been a long month for all of us," said NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.

Some have said the strain on police, who are working longer shifts, handling protests, enforcing curfews and trying to stop looting, all the while encountering violence themselves, have put them on edge.

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