Buffalo officers quit special team after two suspended for shoving 75-year old to ground

Fifty-seven police officers in Buffalo, New York, have resigned from the force's emergency response team following the suspension of two officers who allegedly pushed a 75-year-old protestor to the ground.

The incident was captured in a video which later went viral.

The demonstrators in Buffalo were, like those across the country, calling for racial justice after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

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According to CNN, an investigation is underway in a protest incident as the man was seriously injured. Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood had suspended the officers without pay and opened an investigation based on the viral video.

The said video of the demonstration shows a row of officers walking toward the man and two pushing him. His head bleeds onto the sidewalk as officers walk past him, some looking down at him.

The 57 members that resigned from the unit make up the entire active emergency response team.

The man's identity, Martin Gugino, was confirmed by Cuomo's office. Gugino is hospitalised in serious but stable condition, authorities said.

Megan Toufexis, Gugino's daughter, told CNN that her father attended the protest Thursday to discuss First Amendment rights with police.

Protests in the city continued into the evening Friday.

The incident has drawn widespread condemnation on social media as protestors returned to the streets of several US cities to demonstrate against police brutality.

Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after former police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest.