Lawyer says Buffalo activist, 75, shoved by cops suffered a brain injury when he cracked his head on a sidewalk - just days after Trump claimed he was 'an ANTIFA provocateur' who exaggerated his fall

The peace activist in Buffalo who was critically injured after being shoved by police has sustained brain injury, according to his attorney.

Martin Gugino, 75, is starting physical therapy after being hospitalized in intensive care following the incident last week, his attorney Kelly Zarcone told WNBC-TV on Thursday. 

'As heartbreaking as it is, his brain is injured and he is well aware of that now,' Zarcone said in a statement. 

'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,' she continued.

Zarcone didn't specify the type of brain injury sustained by Gugino, or whether the damage could be permanent. 

+7

Martin Gugino, a 75-year-old protester, lays on the ground after he was shoved by two Buffalo, New York, police officers during a protest on June 4

Gugino was injured last week as members of Buffalo's Emergency Response Team were ordering protesters to disperse shortly after the city's 8pm curfew went into effect.

Shocking video shows him being shoved backwards by officers and cracking his head on the pavement as he falls.

The two officers involved, Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe, have both been charged with felony assault. The ERT crowd control unit was effectively disbanded with the resignation of its nearly 60 other members in solidarity with their charged colleagues.

Legal experts unconnected to the case have said that the video of the incident may not be enough to convict them, given the legal requirements for conviction.

One of them went so far as to suggest the charges could be dismissed short of an indictment.

+7

+7

The two officers involved, Aaron Torgalski (left) and Robert McCabe (right) have both been charged with felony assault 

+7

In this 2016 photo, Martin Gugino, right, holds a sign reading 'Resist Racism,' in Washington, D.C., as part of a protest over the 2014 killing of 12 year-old African American Tamir Rice

'It might not even get out of the grand jury,' Rodney O. Personius, a criminal defense lawyer, told Buffalo News. 'I think there's an opportunity to take this to a panel of citizens. You might even have your client consider testifying before the grand jury.'

'Where was the intent to injure?' said Timothy W. Hoover, a Buffalo attorney who won acquittal for a Buffalo police officer two years ago. 'Looking at the video, I don't see any improper actions or any intent to injure.' 

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump made the baseless claim that Gugino was an antifa agent trying to scan or disrupt police radios with his cell phone.

Gugino is a longtime Catholic peace activist in Buffalo, but White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump's claim.

+7

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump's claim that Gugino is a secret antifa agent who was trying to scan police radios with his cell phone

+7

President Donald Trump made the baseless claim that Gugino was an antifa agent

+7

McEnany faced the assembled media Wednesday for the first time since Trump claimed on Twitter that Gugino may have been part of a 'set up' and may even have deliberately staged his fall to smear police.

'It's not a baseless conspiracy – no not at all. I won't acknowledge that,' McEnany said, when pressed repeatedly about Trump's tweet. 

'The president was asking questions about an interaction and a video clip that he saw and the president has the right to ask those,' she said, referencing video assembled by right win One America News that Trump referenced in the explosive tweet Tuesday.

'The president does not regret standing up for law enforcement men and women across this country,' she said. 

'This individual had some very questionable tweets, some-profanity laden tweets about police officers,' McEnany said of Gugino, who was knocked to the ground by police officers in Buffalo

She characterized Trump's tweet – which also raised the possibility without evidence that Gugino was involved with antifa – as part of the obligation of media members and others to ask questions and parse information.

'In this tweet that he sent out he was in no way condoning violence. He was not passing judgement on these two officers in particular. But what he was saying is this: When we see a brief snippet of a video, it's incumbent upon reporters and those who are surveying a situation to ask questions,' she said. 

Pressed on whether Trump should assemble facts before firing off a tweet, McEnany protested: 'The president did have facts.' 

She said the nation is going through a moment when people are 'reflexively anti-police officer.'