The Buffalo police union, the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, was angered by the suspensions of the two officers, and it retaliated on June5 by withdrawing its legal fees support for any other Buffalo officers for incidents related to the protests. The police union's president claimed that the suspended officers "were simply following orders" and "simply doing their job" while also saying the victim "did slip". All 57 police officers from the Buffalo Police Department emergency response team resigned from the team, although they did not resign from the department. According to the police union's president, the mass resignations were a show of solidarity with the two suspended officers. However, his account has been contradicted by two of the resigned officers, who stated they resigned because of a lack of legal coverage. One of these officers said "many" of the 57 resigned officers did not resign to support the two suspended officers.
