Accountability
Buffalo police officers cleared for pushing over 75-year-old protestor
Two Buffalo police officers were cleared of wrongdoing over a viral video showing them pushing a 75-year-old protester over during a June 2020 racial injustice demonstration following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, per Associated Press.
McCabe and Torgalski were attempting to clear the Black Lives Matter protest near City Hall for an evening curfew. They were suspended from duty and also arrested and charged with assault days after the altercation. A grand jury last year declined to indict them.
The officers testified before an arbitrator that they were trying to protect themselves at the time and denied trying to hurt Gugino. Arbitrator Jeffrey Selchick ruled the use of force was “absolutely legitimate” and that Gugino was “definitely not an innocent bystander,” the Buffalo News reported.
“Upon review, there is no evidence to sustain any claim that Respondents (police officers) had any other viable options other than to move Gugino out of the way of their forward movement,” wrote arbitrator Jeffrey Selchick in a decision on Friday.
“The use of force employed by Respondents reflected no intent on their part to do more than to move Gugino away from them,” continued Selchick, who noted that Gugino had “refused to comply with the officer’s commands” to leave the area.
“Gugino, after the force was applied to him, appears to have not been able to keep his balance for reasons that might well have had as much to do with the fact that he was holding objects in each hand or his advanced age,” Selchick said.
Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said in a statement that the two officers would be reinstated for duty on Monday, the Buffalo News reported.
An attorney for Gugino, who has sued the city, said the arbitrator’s ruling did not come as a surprise.
“We are not aware of any case where this arbitrator has ruled against on-duty police officers, so his ruling here on behalf of the police was not only expected by us, but was certainly expected by the union and city who selected and paid him,” attorney Melissa Wischerath said. “His decision has absolutely no bearing on the pending lawsuit.”
Terry A. Hurlbut has been a student of politics, philosophy, and science for more than 35 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and has served as a physician-level laboratory administrator in a 250-bed community hospital. He also is a serious student of the Bible, is conversant in its two primary original languages, and has followed the creation-science movement closely since 1993.
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One thing to keep in mind is that George Floyd was NOT murdered. He committed suicide by consuming illegal substances he had on him. I wrote the following after looking at the real facts:
When ever some one brings up George Floyd’s death it is important to learn the real facts of the event and see through the lies and twisting of the facts used to promote the anti-Police agenda. The first to note that is constantly ignored is that George Floyd was on probation/parole. He was a convicted criminal due to his participation in a violent home invasion and other crimes. He was not some innocent person. He was a known violent criminal.
The only reason the police were involved in questioning George Floyd the day he died was they were called by a store where George Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill. By the time the police arrived George Floyd had gotten into his vehicle. Instead of cooperating with the police he refused to cooperate. Keep in mind any person who is on parole or probation can be searched at anytime by the police. They are still under the provisions of Amendment 13 and Amendment 4 does not stop them from being searched.
Now is when it get interesting. Knowing he would be searched George Floyd consumed all of the drug fentanyl he had in his possession. Indications have also indicated he may have been might have consumed meth as well. When one reads the various medical reports he consumed so much of it that it left a circular burn on his tongue. Reports indicates he started shaking. Since he continued to refuse to get out of the vehicle the police finally forced the door to the vehicle open and dragged him out of the vehicle. George Floyd continued to resist and fight the police.
Eventually, the police force George Floyd to the ground and used a set of standard methods to get him under control. After he stopped resisting them the officers started putting more attention to the crowd around them who had shown up as a result the police showing up. At some point a nurse, from reports, noticed that George Floyd appeared dead. Shortly after this the anti-Police movement that the “Left” created to create problems started accusing the police officers of causing George Floyd’s death. When one looks at the various video it becomes obvious that the one officer’s knee on George Floyd’s neck was not apply any significant pressure.
The anti-Police rhetoric results in the officers being charged with crimes related to George Floyd’s death. When one listened to the pathologists at the rigged trials of the officers one will notice how the pathologists downplayed the lethal amount of drugs in George Floyd’s system. The simple fact is George Floyd committed suicide and the “Left”, as usual, twisted the fact to advance their agenda of destroying society and the “Rule of Law”.
The look at how the “Left” tried to twist Eric Garner’s death, which was the result of his resisting arrest for doing what he knew would get him arrested again. He had been arrested and convicted of the same crime something like 49 times or more. He was also so obese that when he started the physical confrontation with the officer he caused a heart attack that eventually killed him two hours later. The look at how the “Left” tried to twist Michael Brown’s death. He attacks a police officer in a police car, trying to take the officer’s gun, started to flee, and then after the police officer got out of the car returns to attack the officer. The officers is forced to kill Michael Brown. They were not able to twist these cases to advance the anti-police agenda. But they were with the George Floyd death and the officers who were only doing their job. We can see the results of the anti-police agenda today as more people are being victimized by crime. The simple fact is the officers in the George Floyd case are the victims of the “Left’s” political witch hunt games used to advance their agenda of control and dictatorship.