Protester shoved by Buffalo police is unable to walk, attorney says

Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old activist whom Buffalo, N.Y., police knocked to the ground and hospitalized, is unable to walk after his injury, his attorney said Tuesday.

“I am not at liberty to elaborate at this time other than to confirm that his skull was fractured. While he is not able to walk yet, we were able to have a short conversation before he became too tired. He is appreciative of all of the concern about him but he is still focused on the issues rather than himself,” Kelly Zarcone told CNN in a statement.

Zarcone had previously said Gugino has a fractured skull after the confrontation. Video of the incident shows two officers shoving Gugino back and leaving him on the sidewalk bleeding and motionless after he fell to the group.

Gugino has not given an in-person interview since the encounter, but Zarcone passed on the message to CNN: “I think it’s very unnecessary to focus on me. There are plenty of other things to think about besides me.”

“Barring something unusual and unforeseen, I don’t expect much change at all this week” in Gugino’s condition, Zarcone added.

The two officers involved in the incident were suspended after footage of it went viral, and have since been charged with second-degree assault.

President Trump also addressed the incident in a widely condemned tweet suggesting without evidence that Gugino, an activist with the Catholic Worker movement, was an “ANTIFA provocateur” and that his injury could have been a “set up.”

Zarcone said last week in a statement to multiple media outlets that Gugino had suffered a brain injury during the incident but that he “feels encouraged and uplifted by the outpouring of support which he has received from so many people all over the globe. It helps. He is looking forward to healing and determining what his ‘new normal’ might look like.”