Originally published 2020-06-06.
On the evening of 4 June 2020, two Buffalo police officers shoved 75-year-old Martin Gugino as he approached a line of officers in Niagara Square. He fell backwards, struck his head on the pavement and lay bleeding while the line of police kept moving past him. The six-second encounter, filmed by a local public radio crew, was watched millions of times and became one of the defining images of the George Floyd protests.
Two officers, Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski, were suspended within hours and later charged with felony assault. In February 2021 a grand jury dismissed those charges. Gugino, who suffered a fractured skull, spent nearly a month in hospital. Below is a clear account of what happened, what the video shows, how officials and the police union reacted, and how the legal cases ended.
What happened in Niagara Square
Buffalo, like many US cities that week, was under a nightly curfew from 8pm to 5am, imposed by Mayor Byron Brown after days of protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Shortly after the curfew began, police in riot gear advanced to clear Niagara Square, the plaza outside City Hall.
Gugino walked slowly towards the advancing line. He appeared to be holding a police helmet and a phone, and he seemed to be trying to speak to the officers. His movements were not fast and he carried nothing that looked like a weapon. Two officers pushed him, one with a baton held in both hands and one with an open hand. He fell straight back, hit his head and was left lying on the ground with blood running from his ear.
One officer can be seen starting to bend down towards him before another officer pushes him on. Several more officers walk past. Medics were later called and Gugino was taken to hospital.
The video that spread worldwide
The footage was shot by a team from WBFO, Buffalo's public radio station, and credited to reporter Mike Desmond. WBFO posted it on Twitter that same night with a graphic-content warning. Within a day it had been viewed many millions of times and was being broadcast by networks around the world.
Just about an hour ago, police officers shove man in Niagara Square to the ground (WARNING: Graphic). Video from: @MikeDesmondWBFO pic.twitter.com/JBKQLvzfET
— WBFO (@WBFO) June 5, 2020
(This post is no longer available on X.)
The original post is no longer available on X, but the clip was widely archived and broadcast. Its impact came from its simplicity: an elderly, unarmed man, a quick push, a hard fall and a line of officers who keep walking.
Gugino was not an anonymous bystander. He was a long-time peace activist associated with the Catholic Worker Movement and, after retiring from a career building computer databases in Cleveland, volunteered with the Western New York Peace Center. Friends described him as gentle and persistent, someone who regularly attended demonstrations on issues from war to police conduct.
His injuries and recovery
At first the city said Gugino had been treated for a concussion and a cut. His lawyer later said he had a fractured skull and was unable to walk in the days after the fall. He remained in hospital for nearly four weeks and was discharged on 30 June 2020, by which point he could walk with some help.
A backward fall onto concrete is especially dangerous for older people. Skull fractures and bleeding around the brain can cause lasting problems with balance, memory and mood, and the effects are not always obvious immediately. Anyone who has a hard blow to the head, at any age, should get checked by a doctor straight away, even if they feel fine.
Suspensions, resignations and political fallout
By 11pm that night both officers had been suspended without pay and Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood had ordered an investigation. Mayor Brown said he was deeply disturbed by what he saw and shared the department's statement.
— Byron W. Brown (@MayorByronBrown) June 5, 2020
New York's governor at the time, Andrew Cuomo, went further, calling the incident wholly unjustified and saying he and the mayor agreed the officers should be suspended pending a formal investigation.
This incident is wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 5, 2020
I've spoken with Buffalo @MayorByronBrown and we agree that the officers involved should be immediately suspended pending a formal investigation.
Police Officers must enforce — NOT ABUSE — the law. https://t.co/EYIbTlXnPt
The police union took the opposite view. In a show of support for the two officers, all 57 members of the department's Emergency Response Team resigned from that unit, though not from the force. The union framed this as solidarity; at least two officers said publicly they stepped down because they were worried about legal protection.
Early reports in 2020 also said online activists had identified the officers from the names on their uniforms before the city released them. Names circulating online should always be treated with caution until they are confirmed by officials; in this case the names were confirmed when charges were filed.
On 9 June 2020 President Donald Trump tweeted that Gugino could be an "ANTIFA provocateur" and suggested the fall might have been a set-up. Reporters and fact-checkers found no evidence for either claim, and the tweet was widely criticised.
Charges, a grand jury and an arbitration ruling
On 6 June 2020 McCabe and Torgalski were charged with second-degree assault, a felony. They pleaded not guilty and were released without bail.
On 11 February 2021 Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced that a grand jury had dismissed the charges. Grand jury deliberations in New York are secret, so the exact reasons were not made public. In April 2022 an arbitrator ruled that the officers had not violated the department's use-of-force rules.
Gugino filed a federal civil lawsuit on 22 February 2021 against the city, the two officers, a third officer, the mayor and police leaders, alleging violations of his constitutional rights. The case drew attention to how protest policing is reviewed after the fact, even when an incident is filmed from start to finish.
Gugino died in early 2026, aged 81, as Buffalo Toronto Public Media and The Buffalo News reported in April 2026.
Why the case still matters
The Buffalo video became shorthand for a wider debate in 2020 about how police handle peaceful protesters, particularly older or vulnerable people, during curfew enforcement. Thousands of people were arrested across the US in the first weeks of the protests, and many cities deployed the National Guard. Against that backdrop, a clear recording of a non-violent man being knocked down shaped public opinion far more than statistics could.
It also shows the limits of video evidence. Many viewers assumed the footage alone would lead to convictions, yet the criminal case ended before trial and an arbitrator later backed the officers. Understanding that gap, between what the public sees and what courts and disciplinary bodies decide, is important for anyone following police accountability cases.
Sources: Wikipedia: Buffalo police shoving incident; TMJ4 (Scripps), 11 February 2021: Grand jury dismisses case against Buffalo police officers; video by Mike Desmond for WBFO.
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