Video: Elderly man pushed to ground by Buffalo police starts bleeding from head
A Buffalo police officer was caught on video shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground, causing him to bang his head on the sidewalk and start bleeding from the back of his skull.
The video shows the elderly man, wearing a face mask, walk up to a line of riot gear-clad police officers near the City Hall building soon after a curfew went into effect Thursday.
The officers shout at the man to move back, then one of them pushes him, causing him to stumble backward, fall backwards and slam his head into the pavement, according to the video.
One of the cops then bends down to check on him, but other officers pull him away and call for a medic.
Blood starts to pour from the back of the man’s head and his ears.
“He’s bleeding out of his ears!” a bystander shouts.
“You better get an ambulance for him,” another voice can be heard saying on the video.
The man was rushed to a nearby hospital by medics and is in serious but stable condition, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said. Two officers involved in the incident have been suspended without pay, he added.
“I was deeply disturbed by the video, as was Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood,” Brown said in a statement.
“He directed an immediate investigation into the matter, and the two officers have been suspended without pay,” he added.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a tweet he agreed the cops should be suspended.
“This incident is wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful,” Cuomo tweeted.
“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,” he added.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a tweet Thursday night that the footage “sickens” him.
“I’ve seen videos of the incident in front of Buffalo’s City Hall in which an older protester appears to have been shoved by police, fell backwards and suffered a serious head injury,” he wrote.
“It sickens me. I’ve confirmed he is at ECMC in stable condition. My thoughts are with him now,” he added.
The incident happened soon after a protest concluded in the area where five people were arrested.