Upstate New York protester Martin Gugino who suffered a fractured skull after being shoved to the ground by two Buffalo police officers during a Black Lives Matter protest last year is suing the police, the city and the mayor.
Attorneys for Gugino, 75, on Monday filed the lawsuit in federal court, claiming that the man's constitutional rights to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and due process, among others, were violated during the incident that took place outside Buffalo City Hall on June 4. It also alleges forcible assault without warning by police officers.
The complaint names as defendants the City of Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown, Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood, Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, and police officers Robert McCabe, Aaron Torgalski, and John Losi.
Black Lives Matter protester Martin Gugino, 75, on Monday filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming his constitutional rights were violated when he was shoved by cops
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Gugino was pushed to the ground in front of Buffalo City Hall in New York on June 4
Officers walked past as the 75-year-old lay on the ground, visibly bleeding from his ear
Viral video captured the moment McCabe and Torgalski pushed Gugino to the ground and left him lying on the sidewalk with blood pouring from his right ear.
The lawsuit alleges that the third officer named as a defendant in the complaint, Losi, was the one who instructed McCabe and Torgalski to shove him, as the rest of the police team 'yelled out in chorus, "push him, push him."'
Gugino suffered a fractured skull and spent four weeks in the hospital recovering from his injury.
In the aftermath of the protest, McCabe and Torgalski were charged with felony assault counts and suspended without pay, but earlier this month a grand jury dismissed the charges.
'If the roles were reversed, and Gugino
