SUV hits 2 officers at Floyd protest in Buffalo, speeds off

BUFFALO, N.Y. — An SUV carrying two people who had been shot plowed through a group of law enforcement at a George Floyd demonstration Monday night in Buffalo, injuring at least two officers, authorities said.

Video posted by a bystander shows a line of police officers, backed up by an armoured personnel carrier, rushing and tackling a man who was being interviewed by a man with a TV camera about 9:30 p.m. Other officers used batons to whack at protesters, who scattered.

Moments later, there was the sound of firearms discharging off camera, then officers ran as an SUV barrelled through a cluster of officers. At least one appeared to go under the vehicle’s wheels.

The SUV drove around an armoured vehicle and sped off as more gunfire sounded.

The officers were taken to Erie County Medical Center and authorities said their condition was stable. One is a New York State Police officer who suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries, the agency said. The other is with the Buffalo Police Department.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told WGRZ-TV that two people in the SUV had been shot somewhere else before the vehicle ran through the line of officers, and were being treated for their own injuries. A third person in the SUV was in custody.

Buffalo Police spokesman Michael DeGeorge said two people were struck by gunfire during Monday’s protest. It was not immediately known whether the shots came from police or others, he said.

As a police helicopter flew overhead, officers in armoured vehicles asked the crowd to disperse and fired tear gas within a few blocks of where the police were struck. Several stores in the area were broken into, and people were seen entering and leaving with goods. The windows of a looted convenience store were smashed and protective metal bars had been pulled aside.

One woman on her front stoop said, “I’m scared,” to a person over the phone.

As the night stretched on, the crowds thinned out and smoke swirled from trash that had been emptied out across several streets and set on fire.

Carolyn Thompson And John Wawrow, The Associated Press