A Buffalo, N.Y., protester who was injured in an incident with police officers during a demonstration against police violence has been released from the hospital on Tuesday, the Buffalo News reports.
Martin Gugino, 75, suffered injuries in the June 4 incident and had been hospitalized with a skull fracture, according to his attorney, Kelly V. Zarcone.
Gugino “looks great,” Zarcone said, and “he can walk with a little help and his condition will continue to improve with rest and time.”
During the protest, Gugino approached a large group of oncoming officers in riot gear. In video of the incident caught by a WBFO reporter, two of the officers, carrying batons, appear to shove Gugino backward, and he hits his head on the pavement and begins to bleed from his ear. One of the officers begins to lean over Gugino and is pulled back by another officer. Other officers file past as he lies on the ground.
Officers Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe were suspended without pay and, two days later, charged with felony assault, pleading not guilty.
Police initially said Gugino tripped and fell.
The incident was viewed in wildly different ways by opposing ends of the political spectrum. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the incident “wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful,” according to a CNN report, and Gugino was the subject of a tweet by President Trump suggesting Gugino “could be an ANTIFA provocateur” engaged in a “set up.”
Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2020
The tweet was in reference to a segment by One America News Network that claims Gugino “was using technology on his cellphone to scan and black out police communications during the protest,” according to a CBS News report. The reporter, Kristian Rouz, CBS says, “previously worked for the Russian outlet Sputnik” and “did not cite any evidence to back up his claims,” referencing only a right-wing blog.
At the time, Zarcone said his client “has always been a peaceful protestor because he cares about today’s society” and that “no one from law enforcement has even suggested anything otherwise, so we are at a loss to understand why the president of the United States would make such dark, dangerous, and untrue accusations against him.”
