Gov. Cuomo Pleads With Cops to Behave After Outcry Over Buffalo Officer: ‘What You’re Doing is Going to be on Videotape Tonight

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Friday pleaded with police officers in his state to behave well, telling reporters that he was “sick to my stomach” after watching footage of an officer in Buffalo injuring and walking away from an elderly man.

“I’ve had this conversation directly with them. What you are doing is going to be on videotape tonight. So there is no pretense or hiding. There’s no getting away with anything. It’s all on videotape, and the AG is investigating now in real-time,” Cuomo said, responding to a reporter’s question during a daily press briefing in Albany.

Two Buffalo police officers were suspended Friday after video showed them shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground. The officers walked away as the man laid motionless, blood pooling around his head. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said on Twitter Friday that the man was in serious but stable condition and that physicians said he was “alert and oriented.”

“You see that video and it disturbs your basic sense of decency and humanity,” Cuomo said. “Why? Why was that necessary? Where was the threat? It was an older gentleman. Where was the threat? And then you just walk by the person when you see blood coming from his head.”

New York is expecting to see additional protests over George Floyd’s May 25 death in the custody of Minneapolis police, despite a daily 8:00 p.m. curfew in New York City expected to last at least through the weekend.

Cuomo said officers responding to the unrest should expect to have their actions recorded. “The police officers know that they’re being videotaped. They know it. The protesters know they’re being videotaped. So they all know there’s gonna be total accountability. It’s not like the old days where you had to get a tip and a rumor.”

Watch above via the New York governor’s office.