Image taken from WBFO video
A video showing Buffalo police pushing 75-year-old Martin Gugino to the ground during a protest last week went viral the moment it was posted to social media.
But on Tuesday, President Donald Trump questioned whether the video told the whole story, suggesting on Twitter that Gugino is an "ANTIFA provocateur” who “fell harder than was pushed.”
The tweet prompted Governor Andrew Cuomo to angrily respond to Trump at his daily briefing, held Tuesday in Westchester.
“You think the blood coming out of his head was staged,” a visibly angry Cuomo said. "Is that what you’re saying? You saw his head hit the pavement, you see blood on the pavement. Maybe he fell harder than he was pushed. How reckless, how irresponsible, how mean, how crude. I mean, if there was ever a reprehensible, dumb comment, and from the president of the United States.”
Gugino remains in the hospital, and two Buffalo police officers are facing criminal charges in the case.
Cuomo said the whole nature of policing needs to be rethought after days of protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“We are going to reinvent and reimagine policing for a new generation and a new society, because that’s where we are,” Cuomo said. "And that’s the only answer to this.”
Meantime, state lawmakers continued passing a series of police reforms, including a repeal of 50-a, which shields police disciplinary records from public view.
One bill that didn’t win final agreement was aimed at ending racial profiling during police stops.
"My bill will ban racial profiling by collecting data,” said Rodneyse Bichotte, an Assembly member from Brooklyn. Police officers across the state will be required to fill out a form every time they stop a civilian. The form will include the reason for the stop, if an arrest was made, whether force was used and the name, age, gender and race of the person stopped. This bill also allows the affected civilian the right to file a lawsuit.”
The Senate passed one version of the bill, the Assembly another. Since they don’t match, it will not be headed to Cuomo for his signature.
The other day, Cuomo said calls to defund the NYPD were not the answer. But he appeared less emphatic Tuesday, saying that call to defund the police is an “in-the-moment reaction” to what people were witnessing.
