Police out to enforce curfew in Buffalo, New York, shoved an older man Thursday evening, causing him to fall backward and audibly hit his head on the pavement, Buffalo NPR affiliate WBFO reports. Blood ran from the man's head as he lay motionless, and the cops who pushed him glanced down and walked on. The unidentified man, treated by two medics, was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and is in stable condition, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted Thursday night.
A spokesman for the Buffalo Police Department issued a statement Thursday night saying that during a "skirmish invoking protesters, one person was injured when he tripped and fell." It isn't clear if the spokesman had seen the video, but Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood later said the two officers involved have been suspended without pay, and a full Internal Affairs investigation has been launched.
"This is happening in multiple cities across the country," New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted over another viral video involving the Los Angeles Police Department. "Police striking protesters with batons without an apparent provocation, or in the case of the man in Buffalo, shoving them."
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"Imagine where we would be if they didn't put cameras on cell phones?" wrote veteran news anchor Dan Rather. "And now imagine all that we aren't seeing. And didn't see. And will not see."