Pepper Spray cop says he meant to assault someone else; faces loss of vacation

[yellowtail3]

Tony Bologna, NYPD Deputy Inspector, a few weeks ago decided to show who was boss during the Occupy Wall Street thing. He walked up to three women pinned behind a police barrier, sprayed them in the face with mace, and then nonchalantly walked away & re-holstered his can.
2. This incident was caught on video, multiple angles. Bologna now says he was aiming at someone else, not at the three women he sprayed.
3. Some have disingenuously suggested that the protesters deserved it, that they were spitting on the cops. This is false. Bologna hasn't even made that claim; he says his target where three miscreants hiding on the ground, when he sprayed the (standing) ladies in the face in violation of NYPD policy.
4. The NYPD has investigated, and Tony Balony faces a slap on the wrist - lose some vacation time? - or he could fight it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/officer-anthony-bologna-v_n_1019342.html

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/topics/anthony-bologna/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/10/nypds-pepper-spray-cop-docked-10-vacation-days/43847/



Of course, the cop union has his back. Bologna may yet get away with it; police like to be able to do with sort of thing with impunity. I personally think a couple smacks across the beak by someone bigger than himself would be about right. But that's not nice, is it? Instead, charge him with assault. What would I be charged with, if I sprayed cop in face with mace? If I survived?

How many think he'll end up dodging any accountability?

[XD40SC]

Tony Bologna, NYPD Deputy Inspector, a few weeks ago decided to show who was boss during the Occupy Wall Street thing. He walked up to three women pinned behind a police barrier, sprayed them in the face with mace, and then nonchalantly walked away & re-holstered his can.
2. This incident was caught on video, multiple angles. Bologna now says he was aiming at someone else, not at the three women he sprayed.
3. Some have disingenuously suggested that the protesters deserved it, that they were spitting on the cops. This is false. Bologna hasn't even made that claim; he says his target where three miscreants hiding on the ground, when he sprayed the (standing) ladies in the face in violation of NYPD policy.
4. The NYPD has investigated, and Tony Balony faces a slap on the wrist - lose some vacation time? - or he could fight it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/officer-anthony-bologna-v_n_1019342.html

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/topics/anthony-bologna/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/10/nypds-pepper-spray-cop-docked-10-vacation-days/43847/



Of course, the cop union has his back. Bologna may yet get away with it; police like to be able to do with sort of thing with impunity. I personally think a couple smacks across the beak by someone bigger than himself would be about right. But that's not nice, is it? Instead, charge him with assault. What would I be charged with, if I sprayed cop in face with mace? If I survived?

How many think he'll end up dodging any accountability?

Agree. I hear the expiration date was closing in and he had to discarge it so it would be safe when he got rid of it.  Or maybe he wanted to show the cute young woman over his left shoulder that his sprayer still worked?

[yellowtail3]

Could be. Tony Balony now says he' didn't mean to spray those ladies, that he's tormented, but that he'd do it again if he had the chance to:



http://gothamist.com/2011/10/20/pepper_spray_cop_says_he_didnt_mean.php'

Poor Tony Bologna. Ever since video surfaced showing those two nogoodnik protesters got their pretty eyes in the way of his pepper spray, he's been widely reviled by a misinformed public. After being formally reprimanded for the incident, losing ten vacation days, and getting ridiculed by The Daily Show, Bologna is now trying to set the record straight. He's not some fascist who goes around inflicting agonizing pain on innocent young women; he's got the "best intentions." And he tells veteran crime reporter Murray Weiss he's been "tortured" since the incident. "I did not intend to spray the women," the 30-year veteran says via DNAinfo's sources, adding that he "acted with the best intentions" when he blasted the women in the eyes without provocation and in violation of NYPD guidelines.

Apparently, one of the appeals of police work for some is that they get to put their hands on people with impunity... even spray 'em with mace.

try that sometime out of uniform and away from yer posse, Balogna, and see where it gets you.

[Savage .250]

This mornings news-paper.     He was docked 10 of his 27 vacation days.
  He was disciplined for"using pepper spray outside of department guidelines." 

[briarpatch]

What we see here does not represent the end or abnormal behavior of the.. po-leece but the continual and accelerated spiral of a group going mad with mental and moral deficient men and women.
It will get much worse, much, much worse.    Impunity under law, knows no bounds.

[scotsman]

Yellotail3 points out he problem which is a double standard. Try spraying anyone with pepper spray on the sidewalk, in any town or city, and you would be charged with assault. Then there would be a trial where you would be judged guilty or not guilty by a judge or jury depending on state law. Police have circumvented the justice system, the incident is investigated by police, charges are never brought before a prosecutor, findings are by a police panel, and in the rare occassion of finding fault, those that committ wrongs are penalized by loss of vacation, desk time, etc. It would be a little like me snatching the purse of a little old lady and my employer saying don't worry we will handle this, and taking away a weeks vacation.

[Junior1942]

Face facts.  That cop would probably have preferred to spray those kids with 9mm bullets.