'back the blue'
HUNDREDS of cops gathered outside two Buffalo courthouses on Saturday after two fellow officers were charged with assault for pushing over an elderly protester.
Supportive cheers erupted from police and firefighters as the crowd opened a black umbrella and held up a black sheet to obscure television news cameras from getting footage of the suspects.
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The officers, Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe, were charged with assault in the second degree.
They both pleaded not guilty.
The charge carries a maximum seven-year prison term.
The cops were arraigned in a virtual court hearing.
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In response to the officers' suspension on Friday, the "entire Emergency Response Team has resigned from the team," News4Buffalo's tweeted.
The crowd of supporters today marched to the county courthouse, where WGRZ reported the two officers were being held to be "virtually arraigned" in city court.
Umbrellas were again opened up in front of television cameras, which captured images of hundreds of firefighters and police officers, some wearing shirts reading "We back the Blue."
Two members of the Buffalo Police Department's Emergency Response Team were suspended without pay on Thursday.
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PROTESTER REMAINS IN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
They are being investigated after a local radio station released video of the incident involving the protester, Martin Gugino.
He reportedly remains in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU).
Kait Munro, a spokeswoman for the Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, said: "I cannot confirm any details until an arraignment takes place."
The western New York state city saw pockets of looting after dark like many cities across the United States.
It come as countless otherwise peaceful protests have been staged in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
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Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told reporters he has not asked for the officers to be fired.
He said: "That investigation is proceeding — I've asked to move swiftly," Brown said. "It is very important that the officers know they are getting due process.
"Our information was that the individual was an agitator — he was trying to spark up the crowd.
"What was reported to me was that the individual was a major instigator."
He praised Governor Andrew Cuomo for sending in state police to join with the city police force to ensure safety in Buffalo.
Brown said an 8 pm - 5 am curfew will remain in place until Monday morning.
Gugino is a longtime activist who has advocated for affordable housing, climate justice and police accountability and regularly protested outside the Erie County Holding Center, a Buffalo jail that has come under scrutiny for a string of inmate deaths, according to John Washington, a community organizer who has known him for a decade.
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