The WBFO video, which has been viewed over 38 million times on Twitter, shows a cluster of police officers in riot gear walking across Buffalo’s Niagara Square following demonstrations earlier in the evening.
A man approaches the police and tries to talk with the officers, someone can be heard shouting “push him back,” one officer raises his baton towards the man, while another pushes the man’s chest.
The 75-year-old man falls to the ground backwards, and lies apparently unresponsive as a pool of blood is seen forming under his head.
Buffalo Police Department’s initial statement was that “one person was injured when he tripped & fell” in a skirmish between police and protesters but minutes later local station WBFO shared video of the incident prompting an Internal Affairs investigation, and Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood’s move to suspend the two officers.
The man, who has not been identified, and was in a “serious, but stable condition” at the Erie County Medical Center.
“I was deeply disturbed by the video,” said Byron Brown, Buffalo mayor in a statement. “After days of peaceful protests and several meetings between myself, police leadership and members of the community, tonight’s event is disheartening.”
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