Elderly Buffalo Protester Has Fractured Skull, Can't Walk After Violent Shove from Cops

6/4/2020
"HE'S BLEEDING OUT OF HIS EARS!!!"
@mikedesmondWBFO

The elderly man who was shoved to the ground by police officers in Buffalo was as badly injured as he appeared on camera -- he has a crack in his skull and, for now ... he can't walk.

Martin Gugino's attorney, Kelly Zarcone, says the 75-year-old suffered a fractured skull from the push and fall. She added that Martin is unable to get up on his own 2 feet for the time being while he recuperates. He was released from ICU last week, but remains hospitalized.

Zarcone also released a statement directly from Martin, who says ... "I think it's very unnecessary to focus on me. There are plenty of other things to think about besides me."

This is the same peaceful protester President Trump recently suggested -- without evidence -- might've been an Antifa-tied provocateur there to cause dissent and chaos. Martin's lawyer shot that down as completely false and incredibly offensive.

Meanwhile, on the legal front, the 2 officers who were charged with second-degree assault charges have pled not guilty, and remain suspended without pay.

As we reported, 57 other Buffalo officers resigned from the Emergency Response Team involved in the Gugino incident. Buffalo's Police Benevolent Association said they stepped down because they were pissed their 2 comrades-in-arms were suspended.

Netflix's 'Too Hot to Handle' Francesca & Harry ... Call It Quits

The so-called "it" couple from Netflix's "Too Hot to Handle" are on the outs ... Francesca Farago and Harry Jowsey have ended their relationship.

Francesca made the announcement Tuesday afternoon with a YouTube confessional she dubbed "Our Break Up." She was pretty emotional during the entire 5-minute video and she said ultimately what it came down to was this -- "He decided to break up with me because he couldn't do long distance anymore."

Francesca said she was obviously heartbroken about the ordeal ... adding she tried to make it work but in the end just couldn't make it work. The announcement comes less than a month after they hit up UCLA for a workout.

Francesca -- a model from Vancouver -- and Harry -- who hails from Australia -- were one of the couples that immediately hit it off on the show. But, their chemistry also cost the group some money since they broke a ton of the rules set from the get-go ... like making out and hooking up. If you're unfamiliar with the show, that's a huge no-no.

If these 2 crazy kids can't make it in this world ... what hope is there, really.

California Gym Installs Shower Curtain Workout Pods ... After COVID-19 Closure

Welcome to the future!!!

A gym in Southern California has installed workout pods made out of shower curtains to safely return from its COVID-19 closure ... and the scene is pretty surreal.

Check out photos of Inspire South Bay Fitness in Redondo Beach ... the new weight room looks a hell of a lot different -- and the gym says it's all in an effort to keep people healthy.

Peet Sapsin -- the facility's owner -- told KTLA the new setup took three days to put together ... but he believes it -- and other safety measures -- will allow customers to feel normal being back in a gym.

Peet says everyone that comes through the door will sanitize their hands, have their temperature taken, sign a waiver and then will be given a pod to lift weights in.

Peet claims the gym will only operate at about half capacity with the new setup ... but he adds, "now that we’ve come up with this solution, it’s a lot more affordable and, now, we can reopen back up a little more safer and healthier for our clients."

As we previously reported ... gyms in California were ordered to close up shop way back in March in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

But, government officials gave the green light to gyms to re-open just a few days ago ... and, slowly, fitness centers across the state are making moves.

So, could pod-workouts be coming to a facility near you in 2020??

Stay tuned ...

Brian Austin Green Just Friends with Courtney Stodden Brewin' Ideas & Hanging!!!

Brian Austin Green and Courtney Stodden are definitely together ... in the friend zone, we're told, but they are talking about getting creative.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... Brian and Courtney are just friends who met about a month ago via social media. We're told the initial communication was about sharing ideas regarding the possibility of creating music together.

We're told after some friendly chats, they decided to meet up and hang out. And, they did ... hitting up a Mexican joint over the weekend in L.A.

It helps, we're told, they also share similar political views, the kind that makes them want to make a change that's bigger than themselves. For now ... it's platonic, but things could change. That's Hollywood, baby.

Courtney, of course, is fresh off her divorce and at the moment, we're told, she's committed to herself and not looking for a relationship. As for Austin, well, you know all too well.

As we reported ... his marriage to Megan Fox is currently in separation mode. It was clear things were off after photos of Megan and Machine Gun Kelly surfaced last month. Not long after, she appeared in one of his steamy music videos.

Hey, at least Brian's got some company now.

Pete Buttigieg SCOTUS Ruling Wins Battle for LGBTQ+ ... But Not the War!!!

IT'S A GOOD START
TMZ.com

Pete Buttigieg says the Supreme Court ruling making workplace discrimination against LGBTQ+ members illegal in the U.S. is a step forward -- but there's way more walking to do.

The ex-Democratic presidential candidate was on "TMZ Live" Tuesday to discuss the historic 6-3 decision SCOTUS handed down on the issue of civil rights at work. Pete says a lot of Americans might be surprised that, before Monday, it was still legal to fire someone based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identification.

He goes on to explain there was a huge sign of progress in that Trump-appointed conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch saw the Civil Rights Act and its workplace protections afforded to citizens naturally extend to gay and trans people too.

BTW, the President's other appointee, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, was one of the 3 dissenting votes.

Pete warned it's not time to fly victory banners just yet, because there are several outstanding issues for the LGBTQ+ community that aren't being addressed, and he detailed some of them.

Still, he says Monday's ruling should be taken for what it is -- a good omen for equality in America. True equality.

Arnold Schwarzenegger I Won't Work Out at Gold's ... Because They're Not Wearing Face Masks

OUTSIDE GOLD'S TUESDAY
BACKGRID

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most accomplished bodybuilder in the history of the sport, his gym -- Gold's in Venice -- is considered the mecca of bodybuilding ... so it's pretty stunning Arnold rolled up to the gym today but refused to go inside.

Arnold bicycled to Gold's Tuesday morning for a workout, now that the gym's back in business. He's there like clockwork when it's open, so Tuesday marked a big day for him.

When he got to the front desk he was informed people needed to wear masks when they entered and when they were in certain common areas, but they do NOT require members to wear masks when working out.

Fact is ... Gold's is complying with the law -- State regulations do not require people wearing masks when they lift, but Arnold's way more concerned about safety -- when people moan, grunt and handle the same weights, it's risky.

Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.

The 72-year-old movie star/bodybuilder/politician, we're told, will stay clear of Gold's until people start wearing masks on the floor -- or when there's a vaccine.

The good news for Arnold -- he has a spectacular gym at home.

Rayshard Brooks Emotional Atlanta Memorial Service

Rayshard Brooks' family and friends honored him Monday night during a moving memorial service in his Atlanta neighborhood.

The event in southwest ATL, which lasted about 4 hours and saw 300 to 400 people show up to pay their respects, was held about 10 minutes away from the Wendy's parking lot where cops shot and killed Rayshard.

The police even stopped by for a minute, but they left before stepping foot outside their squad car.

Rayshard's family wanted the service to be a very positive, peaceful event celebrating his 27 years on Earth ... and it was. Folks were drinking, hugging and generally having a good time, but the tears were still flowing.

HONORING RAYSHARD
TMZ.com

Family, friends and neighbors took turns holding the megaphone and sharing stories about Rayshard ... including a heartfelt speech from his cousin, Jymaco Brooks.

Mourners lit candles in front of his portrait and released balloons into the air, while also leaving trinkets at the base of the painting.

A funeral date has not yet been scheduled, as the family continues to work out logistics.

Tom Brady Looking Pretty Buccin' Good ... Tampa Bay Uni Pics

UPDATE

10:44 AM PT -- Brady and his teammate Rob Gronkowski were also spotted getting some reps in on Tuesday ... so it's a pretty sad day for Pats Nation all around.

UPDATE

Tompa Bay is officially HERE!!!

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have released the first pics of Tom Brady in his new threads ... and the dude looks good.

It's going to take some time to get used to seeing TB12 in new colors -- after all, he spent 20 years in New England -- but now that we know what it looks like, we can finally start adjusting.

The Bucs have been hyping up the big reveal on social media ... and Brady finally decided to show the world what he looks like in red and pewter on Tuesday.

TB12 dodged a bullet, though ... with the Bucs deciding to go back to a more traditional look just in time for the legend's arrival.

Remember, #12 used to be occupied by star receiver Chris Godwin ... who willingly handed Brady his beloved digits for FREE!!

Let reality sink in, Pats fans. Your 6-time champ is gone.

Originally Published 10:07 AM PT

Breonna Taylor Legal Team Accuse Louisville Officials of Cover-Up, Stonewalling

The details of Breonna Taylor's killing are being swept under the rug and hidden from public view by top city officials like the mayor ... so says her family's legal team.

Attorneys repping Breonna's fam tell TMZ ... a hard deadline came and went Friday, at which point the Louisville Metro Police Department and the City itself -- at the direction of Mayor Greg Fischer -- were supposed to produce crucial docs pertaining to the investigation.

Specifically, we're told her lawyers asked for an official autopsy report, personnel files for the cops involved in her death, and the Mayor's internal communications about all this too.

Her legal team says NONE of the docs were produced as of Monday -- after over a month of stonewalling and what they characterize as a refusal to comply with their open records requests. The attorneys tell us they believe this is due to an attempt to cover up her death.

They do note the City tried claiming there was a misunderstanding in the back of forth of their requests -- but even after that, the attorneys say they still came up with only a few of the requested documents.

The team writes, "We intend to seek all sanctions available for these blatant and willful violations of CR 45 (a KY subpoena rule). Meanwhile, we present this information so that the public is able to see the lengths that the city will go to in order to withhold the truth and keep Tamika Palmer from learning the facts surrounding her daughter’s murder."

It's interesting ... Breonna's family attorneys are strongly echoing what Beyonce herself said in an open letter to Kentucky's Attorney General -- that the process has stalled, and that his office needed to take over ASAP, while committing to transparency along the way.

Looks like the feeling might be mutual there on the ground too.

Shake Shack Cops Feared 'Poison' Milkshakes But NYPD Says No Crime

A trio of cops getting a bad taste in their mouths after downing Shake Shack milkshakes nearly became a flashpoint in the nationwide tensions between police and their communities ... but cooler heads are prevailing.

The burger joint was trending overnight because the 3 NYPD officers were hospitalized after complaining about a funny taste in the shakes they ordered at a lower Manhattan Shake Shack. They reportedly described the taste as bleach, and feared they'd been poisoned.

A letter was sent to members of different police unions making them aware of the sitch. In a since-deleted tweet, the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association straight-up said their boys in blue were "intentionally" poisoned.

The insinuation was cops can't even go for a shake now without being attacked by rogue citizens. Mind you, there was no evidence of that, but take it as a sign of how tense things are these days.

Welp ... an investigation was immediately launched overnight, and NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said Tuesday it was all much ado about nothing.

Harrison says, "After a thorough investigation by the NYPD’s Manhattan South investigators, it has been determined that there was no criminality by Shake Shack’s employees."

As for what exactly happened to the malts remains a mystery. The NY Post reports it appears to be a cleaning solution commonly used that wasn't rinsed off the machine enough.

The good news is all 3 cops were released from the hospital and are expected to make a full recovery -- and Shake Shack said it's committed to getting the full picture out.

Crisis averted.

Stacey Dash Files for Divorce

Stacey Dash is officially bringing an end to her marriage ... she's filed for divorce.

The "Clueless" star filed her divorce petition Monday in Pasco County, Florida to divorce Jeffrey Marty after nearly 2 years of marriage ... this according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ. Dash lists October 1, 2019 as the date of separation ... the two were married on April 6, 2018. In the docs, Stacey says there is no jointly owned personal property that needs to be divided. As far as her income goes ... Stacey says she brings in $2,500 per month.

The move comes nearly 2 months after Stacey announced she and her lawyer hubby were splitting up. As we reported ... when Stacey went public with the breakup, it sure didn't sound like a conscious uncoupling. As she put it, "After much prayer, I feel this is the right path for both of us." Notice, there was no "we" in that sentence.

Anyway, Jeffrey was Stacey's fourth husband, and the divorce will officially bring an end to a tumultuous marriage.

As we first reported ... Stacey was arrested in Florida back in September -- even though she's the one who called cops -- after allegedly pushing him and slapping him. But, prosecutors dropped the case after a few days.

Rayshard Brooks Family Pissed About Phony GoFundMe ... Okay with Wendy's Burning

UPDATE

9:13 AM PT -- GoFundMe has heard Rayshard's family's plea, and has responded appropriately -- telling TMZ ... "We've removed several campaigns, fully refunded those donors, and will continue to remove any campaigns without a clear connection to Rayshard Brooks’ family."

Rayshard Brooks' family members say fake GoFundMe pages soliciting donations on their behalf have sprung up all over the crowd-sourcing site ... and they want 'em gone, immediately.

One of Rayshard's cousins, Decatur Redd, tells TMZ ... he and his other relatives have spotted a ton of fraudulent pages in recent days for Rayshard and/or "his family." He says it's a frustrating nuisance for the real family, because they've only approved one true GFM.

We're told Decatur reached out to GoFundMe to get these phony pages taken down, but hasn't heard back, so he's warning the public -- do NOT fall for these opportunistic rip-off pages.

We reached out, and GoFundMe says it's aware of the situation, and keeping an eye out for fakes pages. From the looks of it, some of them have been deleted already.

It also looks like the legit page is amassing the majority of donations -- upwards of $105k and counting. The phonies have a small fraction of that, so it seems most of the public is hip to the game.

ANOTHER ANGLE
TMZ.com

Decatur also told us he wants Garrett Rolfe, the now ex-cop who shot and killed Rayshard, to be charged with murder. He stopped short of saying what he deserved as punishment, telling us it'll be up to a judge if Rolfe gets charged and or convicted.

As far as the Wendy's getting burned to the ground ... Decatur says he doesn't condone it, but admits it felt cathartic when he saw video of it. He described it as a release ... almost like the start of his healing.

EMOTIONAL MOMENTS
FOX 5

It goes without saying ... Rayshard's killing has hit Decatur incredibly hard -- he was seen openly weeping and had to be held back during Monday's emotional news conference.

Originally Published -- 1:00 AM PT

New Mexico Protest Armed Militia's Statue Standoff Ends with 1 Protester Shot

UPDATE

10:58 AM PT -- Cops have arrested Steven Baca Jr. for allegedly shooting the protester. They say Baca had some sort of interaction with the protesters before it was observed that he was being chased by the crowd and struck with a longboard. That's when Baca allegedly fired several rounds at the victim. Baca Jr. has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

UPDATE

The latest scene of protesters attempting to topple a statue -- this one of a Spanish conquistador -- exploded in violence when an armed civilian militia allegedly opened fire on a New Mexico protester.

The militia -- an extremist group called the New Mexico Civil Guard -- was standing guard Monday over a statue of Juan de Oñate in front of the Albuquerque Museum. A group of protesters had gathered with the goal of taking it down ... as we've seen happen recently in several cities.

At one point, witnesses told police that somebody swung a pickax at the base of the statue ... and that's when shots rang out and people were screaming someone had been shot.

The victim was hit by one bullet, and fellow protesters huddled around him as he was laid out on his stomach. Eventually, EMTs arrived to bring him to a hospital ... he was later listed as being in critical but stable condition.

As for the militia, those who were dumb enough to stick around came face-to-face with members of actual law enforcement -- who proceeded to take several of them into custody.

Tear gas and flashbangs were used to contain the situation and to detain the armed men -- whom cops say were disarmed by the time they were done with them. It's unclear if police caught the actual shooter ... and the FBI's already been looped into the investigation.

Remember, protesters successfully dismantled several statues of Civil War figures and Christopher Columbus within the last 2 weeks. All of those incidents went down peacefully ... meaning, no one attempted to protect the statues.

Different story now ... at least in New Mexico.

Originally published -- 6:54 AM PT

Elon Musk and Grimes Our Baby's Name Is Officially X AE A-XII ... Birth Cert Proves It

Elon Musk and Grimes really followed through with their outta this world baby name ... but they had to play a little ball to comply with California law.

According to the newborn's birth certificate, obtained by TMZ, Elon and Grimes named their first child, X AE A-XII Musk. Seriously.

Mom and Dad had to get a little creative -- as if the kid's name wasn't clever enough -- to make their tyke all legal and stuff. As you know ... Elon and Grimes' baby boy was born last month, and they wanted to name him X Æ A-12 Musk.

As it turns out, the aeronautic name didn't fly in Cali, where birth names must be limited to the English alphabet -- no numbers or special signs.

The result, as you can see, is a first name X, middle name AE A-XII ... and last name Musk. See? Roman numerals ARE good for something besides Super Bowls!

If ya missed it, here's a breakdown on little X's handle: X stands for an unknown variable, AE is like artificial intelligence or AI, and A-XII is the name of a 1960s USAF spy plane.

The pronunciation goes like this ... X like the letter, AE is pronounced "Ash" and then your standard A-12. As in, X-ash-A12. Duh!

That'll be fun on the playground.

LeBron James Super-Rare Card Hits Auction Block Expected To Sell For $1 Mil!!

A LeBron James signed rookie card -- the holy grail of modern trading cards -- just hit the auction block ... and is expected to rake in OVER $1 MILLION!!

The LBJ 2003-2004 Upper Deck Exquisite card is 1 of only 23 produced (it's numbered 14 out of 23) ... and is arguably the most desirable and valuable card in the world.

The card is about to hit the block at Goldin Auctions ... and they tell us they expect the piece to sell for OVER a milli.

The condition of the card is rated at 9.5 a.k.a. "gem mint."

Basically, it's as good as new.

FYI -- a few months back, GA sold an ultra-rare Mike Trout signed rookie card for almost $923K ... a record sale price.

But, Trout may soon be knocked off the throne by King James.

“The basketball card market is on fire," Goldin tells us.

"We expect this will surpass the record recently sent by the $922,500 Mike Trout card to become the most valuable basketball and most valuable modern card of all time”

As if the card -- signed by Bron in blue ink -- wasn't already cool enough ... it also contains a piece of an actual patch from James' rookie season Cleveland Cavs jersey.

LeBron averaged 21 points per game, 6 assists, and 5.5 rebounds a game in '03-'04 ... and won the Rookie of the Year.

The world's most expensive piece of 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch cardboard hits the block June 22nd.

Happy bidding!!

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