The elderly man shoved by a cop at a protest in Buffalo is “alert and oriented” early Friday, according to a county official.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted Friday that the 75-year-old man was listed in serious but stable condition at the Erie County Medical Center after he was pushed to the ground by an officer Thursday shortly after a curfew went into effect near Niagara Square, not far from City Hall.
“As was relayed to me by an ECMC official, he is ‘alert and oriented,’” Poloncarz tweeted. “That is better news. Let’s hope he fully recovers.”
Poloncarz earlier tweeted that the officers involved in the incident “must be held responsible for their actions” and not just terminated from the department.
The two officers involved in the incident – video of which went viral on social media – have been suspended without pay, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said.
“I was deeply disturbed by the video, as was Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood,” Brown said in a statement. “He directed an immediate investigation into the matter, and the two officers have been suspended without pay.”
The 75-year-old man, who has not been publicly identified as of early Friday, is a long-time activist who is “known to many” in Buffalo, according to a reporter for the Investigative Post.




“For his privacy, I will not be releasing his name or other identifying information,” reporter Ali Ingersoll tweeted late Thursday.
An online fundraiser has been set up to help offset the man’s medical costs.
“Police officers must protect and serve and not abuse the law or hurt others,” the website read. “No one deserves this … especially elderly members in our communities.”




