Justice inching closer for the young women who Bologna sprayed ?
WSJ is reporting....
OCTOBER 18, 2011, 7:21 P.M. ET
AP Source: NYC officer violated pepper spray rules
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Associated Press
NEW YORK — An internal New York Police Department review has found an official violated department guidelines when he used pepper spray on Occupy Wall Street protesters last month, a person with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday.
Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna faces discipline of a loss of 10 vacation days after the Sept. 24 incident near Union Square, shortly after the now-global protests began in a tiny private plaza in lower Manhattan, the person said. The person had direct knowledge of the review but was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The demonstrators had meandered from their base in Zuccotti Park and spilled over into the streets, blocking traffic. Video from the protests shows a small group of mostly women corralled by orange netting used by officers to control crowds. Bologna approaches and, seemingly without warning, blasts the cluster with pepper spray. Two of the women crumple on the sidewalk in pain. One screams.
WTF? Loss of vacation time?
Here's what the lawyers and one of the young women have to say:
Surely there will be more accountability than this? Civil suits ? Something!
4:08 PM PT: He didn't mean to do it!
http://gothamist.com/...
"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. Bologna says he was “shell-shocked” when the video went viral, but if he could turn back the clock he "would do things the same way." Though we imagine he might give the person who videotaped this a nice spicy spritz, too.
Bologna claims his intended target was three mysterious young men who were "on the ground trying to grab officers' legs from under the netting." He says he went to spray them but missed, hitting the ladies in stead. SO SUE HIM! (Actually, they probably will.) Of course, those three groper protesters escaped, so we'll just have to take Officer Bologna's word for it. Which is okay with Murray Weiss, who writes, "Bologna may have made a mistake in judgment and deserved a rip. But it is hard to see a crime here." Hmmm, somehow, we suspect it's a bit easier to see the crime if your eyes are full of pepper spray.