Aimeé
Last week, a video of officers from the Buffalo, New York, police department shoving an elderly man to the ground, then leaving him to bleed from his ear on the pavement horrified viewers.
The man survived and was taken to the hospital in serious condition. After the incident but before footage of it went viral, the BPD released a statement saying the protestor “tripped and fell” causing the accident, even though it’s perfectly obvious he was deliberately pushed.
Just about an hour ago, police officers shove man in Niagara Square to the ground (WARNING: Graphic). Video from: @MikeDesmondWBFO pic.twitter.com/JBKQLvzfET
— WBFO (@WBFO) June 5, 2020
Comedian Kumail Nanjiani tweeted about the violence and attempt at a cover-up by invoking the familiar phrase “it’s just a few bad apples.”
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Many defenders of policing believe the problem with police is that a few of them are bad, not that policing itself supports systemic racism.
“Buffalo PD officially said that the man tripped & fell,” Nanjiani wrote. “If we didn’t have video there would have been no accountability. Why? Because one ‘bad apple’ pushed him down but 20 ‘good apples’ would have let him get away with it. It’s systemic.”
Re: that awful video. Buffalo PD officially said that the man tripped & fell. If we didn’t have video there would have been no accountability. Why? Because one “bad apple” pushed him down but 20 “good apples” would have let him get away with it. It’s systemic.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) June 5, 2020
Yes! The end of that saying, by the way, is “spoils the whole bunch.” Bad apples ruin the good apples next to them. That can be further proven by the response the BPD had when the two officers involved in the actual shoving match were suspended.
Now 57 officers resigned from their roles on the Emergency Response Team. They’re still on the force and still getting paid, unfortunately, but they showed up to applaud the assaulters at court and made this unified stand in protest of the shoving cops getting called out at all.
🙋♂️Raise your hand if you want all 57 of these brutal cops to be fired and investigated!
“The 57 officers have not resigned from the department and will keep their jobs, they have only resigned from their roles on the Emergency Response Team.” -WKBW
— Steve Herzfeld 🌊 (@american2084) June 5, 2020
One incompetent cop is a concern; 57 is a culture: 57 Buffalo officers resign from Emergency Response Team after two cops suspended #BuffaloPD https://t.co/14uhGSnqaN
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) June 6, 2020
57 members of Buffalo Police riot response team resign from the unit in support of the 2 officers who were suspended for pushing elderly protester to the ground. They say the 2 suspended officers “were simply following orders.” https://t.co/gzZ4VXpQ5p pic.twitter.com/Ew2ptUSXVz
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) June 5, 2020
So is 57 officers resigning at once just a few bad apples? https://t.co/pHOwAC930a
— Henry Lake (@lakeshow73) June 5, 2020
57 officers — has resigned from the team in support of the two officers who pushed 75-year-old Martin Gugino to the ground, seriously injuring him.
They are still employed, but no longer on ERT.
Still employed as the police! pic.twitter.com/igykbrOytc
— Jon Smyth (@JonSmyth01) June 5, 2020
Seth Meyers had some strong words about the “few bad apples” analogy as well:
The man who was pushed, by the way, is named Martin Gugino according to the Associated Press. He is a veteran peace activist who works with the Western New York Peace Center and Latin American Solidarity Committee. He showed up to stand for what he believes in and the police knocked him down, because the whole barrel is rotten.
