US Prosecutors: 2 Buffalo police officers charged with assault

Two Buffalo police officers were charged with assault Saturday, prosecutors said after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester in recent demonstrations over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Both pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault. They were released without bail.

The officers had been suspended without pay Friday after a TV crew captured the confrontation the night before near the end of protests.

The footage shows a man identified as Martin Gugino approaching a line of helmeted officers holding batons as they clear demonstrators from Niagara Square around the time of an 8 p.m. curfew.

Two officers push Gugino backward, and he hits his head on the pavement. Blood spills as officers walk past. One officer leans down to check on the injured man before another officer urges the colleague to keep walking.

Dozens of police officers stepped down from the department’s crowd control unit Friday, in response to their fellow officers’ suspensions.