Two Buffalo, New York police officers have been suspended without pay after graphic video allegedly shows them shoving a 75-year-old protester.
Video taken by radio station WBFO that shows the elderly man trying to speak to the officers, dressed in riot gear, when cops begin to yell at him to move back. One officer violently shoves him to the ground with his baton while another shoves him with his hands.
The man falls backward onto the sidewalk and blood quickly pools from behind his head. The group of officers don't offer to help the man, leaving him on the ground as they walk by.
The video, taken just after the 8pm curfew in front of Buffalo's City Hall, immediately received backlash online, with Twitter users tagging New York's Governor and Attorney General in the viral clip. Social media grew even angrier after the department released a statement saying the unidentified man "tripped and fell."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted that the actions of the officers "are wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful. Police officers must enforce - NOT ABUSE - the law." Both Cuomo and Buffalo's mayor agreed that the two officers should be suspended without pay. The Buffalo PD said it is conducting an internal investigation while the elderly man is in the hospital in serious but stable condition.