Martin Gugino, Activist Shoved by Buffalo Police at 2020 Protest, Dies[/b

Mr. Gugino, 81, had filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the city of Buffalo and members of its police force after officers fractured his skull at a Black Lives Matter protest.


An image taken from video showing police officers approaching Martin Gugino before knocking him down on a sidewalk in Buffalo in 2020. WBFO NPR

By Hannah Ziegler
April 8, 2026

Martin Gugino, the activist who was badly injured when police officers shoved him to the ground during a protest in Buffalo in 2020, died on March 9 in Tampa, Fla. He was 81. ... His death was confirmed on Wednesday by one of his lawyers, Melissa D. Wischerath, who said the cause was not immediately clear.

Two police officers shoved Mr. Gugino to the ground during a Black Lives Matter protest outside the Buffalo City Hall on June 4, 2020. A widely viewed video of the interaction, taken by a local radio station, fueled widespread outrage during a summer of unrest over police violence after the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky.

The video shows two officers, Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski, shoving Mr. Gugino, who stumbles backward and lands hard on the sidewalk. Blood immediately begins emerging from his right ear. Several officers can be seen walking past Mr. Gugino as he lies motionless on the ground. ... The fury over the video intensified after the Buffalo Police Department initially claimed that Mr. Gugino “tripped & fell” during a “skirmish,” statements that contradicted the video. ... Mr. Gugino, who was 75 at the time, was hospitalized for about a month with a fractured skull, a brain injury and hearing loss, Ms. Wischerath previously told The New York Times.

Mr. McCabe and Mr. Torgalski were charged with felony assault after the video of the encounter spread on social media. A grand jury declined to indict the officers in 2021, despite the district attorney’s assertion that they had “crossed the line.” ... An arbitrator ruled in 2022 that the officers’ use of force against Mr. Gugino was “absolutely legitimate” because he was “not an innocent bystander.” ... President Trump weighed in on the incident days after it happened, as Mr. Gugino remained in the hospital recovering from his head injuries. Mr. Trump incorrectly called Mr. Gugino an “ANTIFA provocateur” in a post on X and speculated that Mr. Gugino might have instigated or faked the encounter with the police.

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Martin Gugino lay on the ground after being pushed by Buffalo police officers in a confrontation outside Buffalo City Hall in 2020. Mike Desmond/WBFO NPR, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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Hannah Ziegler is a general assignment reporter for The Times, covering topics such as crime, business, weather, pop culture and online trends.