A grand jury in western New York rejected charges of assaulting two police officers who threw an elderly protester to the floor during a protest against George Floyd in June.
Buffalo Police Department officials Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski faced criminal charges for pushing Martin Gugino, 75, to the ground, fracturing his skull and bleeding from his head.
These charges were dismissed by a grand jury panel, which voted not to accuse the police, Erie County district attorney John Flynn said at a news conference on Thursday.
Flynn defended the filing of criminal charges against police at the news conference on Thursday, saying that the video of the push clearly showed that the police committed a crime.
“I don’t apologize for anything,” said Flynn.
He added that Gugino “should not have been pushed,” but said he agreed that the activist should have been arrested because he was violating the curfew imposed by the city at the time.
Gugino spent a month in a hospital recovering from a fractured skull and brain injury after breaking his head on the floor during the fight with the police.