After a viral video of two officers in Buffalo, New York, were seen shoving an elderly man to the ground, 57 police officers in the riot squad resigned.
A 75-year-old man was injured after being shoved by two police officers. In support of the officers that were suspended, the officers resigned in protest of their
colleagues’ suspension.
The members stepped down from the Emergency Response Team, but not the police department itself, according to Buffalo News.
The president of the local police union, John Evans, told the publication that they were just following orders.
“Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square. It doesn’t specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don’t know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards.”
Governor Cuomo stated on Friday that the officers should be fired, and called for the incident to be investigated for “possible criminal charges.”
Buffalo Mayor Myron Brown released a statement saying: “We can confirm that contingency plans are in place to maintain police services and ensure public safety within our community.”
The Buffalo officers that resigned are working with other law enforcement agencies.
