Two officers from the Buffalo Police Department who pushed a 75-year-old man to the ground during racial injustice protests over the murder of George Floyd have been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Martin Gugino suffered a skull fracture when he was shoved into the pavement in June 2020 while participating in one of the Black Lives Matter protests that rocked the US in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a white police officer, who knelt on the man's neck for nine minutes.
Nearly two years later, an arbitrator on Friday ruled that Officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski were justified in pushing Mr Gugino because he refused to comply with the orders and acted erratically.
“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," Jeffrey Selchick wrote in his decision.
“The use of force employed by respondents reflected no intent on their part to do more than to move Gugino away from them,” the arbitrator added.
The officers faced backlash after a video crew captured the incident of Mr Gugino being shoved by both the officers as police in riot gear cleared demonstrators for an 8pm curfew.
The video, which went viral on social media, showed Mr Gugino approaching the officers while holding his phone in one hand and helmet in another. He was then pushed by the men, who continued to walk forward.
Mr Gugino started bleeding after hitting his head on the concrete pavement and was hospitalised for a month with a fractured skull and brain injury.
The officers were suspended without pay and arrested within days of the incident, however, last year a grand jury declined to indict them and dropped the charges.
Both the officers would be reinstated to duty on Monday, police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said in a statement.
Melissa Wischerath, an attorney for Mr Gugino, who has sued the city, said that the ruling does not impact the lawsuit.
“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,” Ms Wischerath told the Buffalo News.
