Get him
better.
>> The two Buffalo police officers that you see,
essentially brutalizing a 75 year old man in that video are free to go back to work.
They're not facing any charges for that brutality.
They're not facing any repercussions consequences, nothing.
They're back at work, and I want to tell you why.
But first I gotta give you context on what happened.
That video was from 2020 during the George Floyd protests in Buffalo New York.
The elderly man, Martin Gugino received a serious
skull fracture as a result of that brutality.
He spent quite a bit of time in the hospital as a result.
And despite a 22 month long investigation, the officers
apparently allegedly did not violate Buffalo Police Department policies.
Which kinda means that the Buffalo Police Department has policies
that are problematic and should be changed.
But it doesn't seem like that's gonna be happening here.
So the ruling came in a 41 page report written by the New York Arbiter.
His name is Jeffrey, Celtic and try not to lose your mind.
As you hear his ridiculous reasoning for why these cops are now free to go
free to continue working as cops within the Buffalo Police Department.
He writes that while Gugino might well have believed that he was
engaged in some type of civil disobedience or
perhaps acting out a role in some type of political theater.
Gugino was definitely not an innocent bystander.
Wait, hold on, how is he not innocent?
He's at a protest.
Americans have the right to assemble.
Okay, that's protected as a constitutional right.
He is not in any way posing a threat to the cops.
He wasn't even approaching the cops.
The cops just decided to shove him to the ground and fracture his skull.
What exactly did he engage in that wasn't so innocent Now.
The elderly man's crime was apparently staying up past
the city's 8 pm curfew and dispersal order.
So that was the actual civil disobedience he was involved in.
He didn't go back home when the curfew went into effect.
And so apparently that gave the cops the right to shove him again.
A 75 year old man to the ground fracturing his skull.
Now Celtic alleges that the serious injuries that this elderly man has
sustained may also be his fault.
It's his fault that the two cops decided to shove him to the ground.
Gugino after the force was applied to him,
appears to have not been able to keep his balance.
For reasons that might well have had as much to do with the fact
that he was holding objects in each hand or his advanced age.
Do you notice a trend here?
Do you notice a similarity in the kind of excuses that we here for
police who do decide that it's totally fine to brutalize people.
The argument that we hear over and over again is it's not the cops fault.
It's actually the victim's fault.
It wasn't the cops fault, it was George Floyd's fault for
having drugs in his system.
It wasn't the cops fault, it was Gogino's fault because he was holding objects in
his hand and he's elderly, it's his fault.
He's elderly, Celtic should be fired.
Like if we're having a discussion about criminal justice reform in this country.
I'm getting real sick of essentially nothing more than early release,
no rehabilitative programs and cops essentially getting
the ability to continue brutalizing people with no consequences.
That's criminal justice reform.
There has been nothing done to reform policing in this country.
Some cities decided to cut police funding, which honestly the thought was,
let's cut police funding and actually reallocate the money to other programs.
That would help rehabilitate people, but
the effort to actually invest in rehabilitation, not really there.
And more importantly, it's not good enough to just cut funding for cops.
You have to reform the police departments across the country.
You have to create an environment in which policing actually does protect and
serve and doesn't brutalize innocent people or shoot and kill unarmed citizens.
There's been nothing on that front, nothing substantive.
I'm just keeping it real for you guys, okay?
And for anyone who likes celebrates, simply cutting funding to police
departments, that's not gonna fix the problems.
That we're experiencing in this society, Celtic should be fired.
He won't, he won't be fired.
But the fact that he's providing cover for
what we witnessed in that video, the brutal behavior.
The brutal treatment of a 75 year old man.
I mean it tells you where the priorities are and it is not about protecting and
serving.
It's about intimidating.
It's about brutalizing and
it's about sending a message to people who wanna speak truth to power.
Hey, the cops will rough you up.
They might even fracture your skull and then they'll be back on the job.
No consequences for them all.
The consequences for you, for
practicing your right to assemble to protest to speak truth to power.
It's incredibly frustrating and I really thought that video is gonna change things.
How could anyone watch that and and provide excuses for what the police did?
Finally Celtic says, Gugino may also have been surprised when
the officers used force to punish him away.
Because he may have entertained the unfounded belief that the officers would
let him interfere with the performance of their duties.
Where did he interfere with the performance of their duties?
I wanna watch the video again.
So I'll give you guys time to cue it up.
But well you do let me just really emphasize for
people who might be listening to the audio version of this show,
he does nothing to interfere with the cops.
He does nothing to pose a threat to the cops.
He's standing there minding his own business when these
cops do what you're about to hear and watch in this clip.
>> Get him better.
>> He was bleeding out of his ear.
There are dozens of cops there, dozens of cops against a 75 year old activist.
And somehow what happened to him was no problem.
This is how things are supposed to work,
according to the Buffalo New York Police Department.