Wow…..the balls of these people…...

Sigh. I can’t even put it into words.

I always find it incredibly sad when I see a police officer arresting/macing/assaulting a protester. To me, protesting is so deeply American, I hate that it so often seems like it is protesters vs police, or vice versa. I certainly understand that large crowds of people have a tendency to get out of control and can pose a serious danger, and that the presence of law enforcement is necessary to protect people, but scenes like this make me terribly sad.
Maybe it was an accident, as the officer claims… even so, he should be held liable, and I think the woman is right to press charges. The whole situation sucks.

One of the women involved has said she will file assault charges, so he hasn’t gotten out of this yet.
I am glad he is out of Manhattan, though. This guy is a major prick.

There didn’t seem to be any justified use of force, go through the courts just like they would for anyone else. And yeah, 10 days and a transfer, that’s red face and a slap on the wrist.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t trust cops until they prove themselves to have a level head about them and to not lord their authority over people just because they are cops. Until then, I figure I’ll say “yes sir” now and take it out of their hides later in court, if necessary. Far too often they do not exercise their authority properly.

However, in a situation like this, I can see even an experienced cop having an accident. Maybe he didn’t mean to press the trigger. Maybe he was going after someone else. Maybe he discovered his wife cheating on him the night before. Whatever. Despite my mistrust, I do think cops are human. Unfortunately, they are also necessary.

I still don’t understand, in this day and age, why cops are so confrontational. It is clear that the more accommodating you are, the less damage and confrontation there is. There is no need to attack the protesters. They are generally peaceful, but you can sure make them violent by attacking them unprovoked.

I don’t know if this is an individual cop or an attitude passed on down from the chain of command. Does the mayor want this to happen? Is this an example of poor training? Hard to imagine since the cop was a 29 year veteran.

But I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Let’s see what the court case turns up. The facts of the case should be fairly indisputable, although I did not see who sprayed the mace on the video. People with better eyes than me will have to figure it out.

It is not that small of a punishment.

He has a black mark on his record.

He is out of the promotion chain.

He had a dollar value impact with losing 10 days of paid vacation time.

And Staten Island is like Siberia in the police department.

I agree with @marinelife that the Department has done it’s internal punishment. And since he can still be charged and/or sued, he is not getting off scot-free.

Oh yeah. I love how you see this as an aggravated assault and when some peaceful protest turn into a riot you don’t consider that those people act like animals versus the police. He might have uses excessive force but in the back you can see people were pushing around toward the police line .. let’s be serious. He didn’t act according to protocol. End of story. He had his punishment now let it rest.

No, we won’t let it rest, this is a legitimate problem

Yeah yeah right. Those who protest peaceful then the mob becomes aggressive won’t admit to being there. He got punished for it and it seems he’ll end up with a lawsuit for what he did.
Do you want his head on a platter for a mistake or you’re the one who never does a mistake or has a bad decision into a situation.

@Hibernate Nope, I’m the type of person that doesn’t suggest people stop talking about current events on a public internet forum.

Isn’t it interesting to talk in vain? I’m out :)

Just another reason not to trust the scum-sucking pigs police. And another example as to why American is anything but a free country.

@Hibernate So the women in the front got sprayed because those in the back were pushing against the line? That makes a whole lot of sense. There is a another video out there (which I can not find at the moment but this video shows part of it) that shows the pushing behind the girls who got maced was cops pulling people out of the netting to arrest and the protesters being upset about how someone who was filming was thrown to the ground. Animal-like behavior though. There is a third video (which is included in the video I already linked) showing a cop telling people to move on down the street and Bologna spraying them even though they were complying and moving down the street.
Would any other profession get to keep their job, even with a demotion, if they actively broke company protocol in a way that caused a black mark on that company? I guarantee you any other profession would be fired. So why are cops different? If anything, I think they should be held to a higher standard in an instance like this since they are supposed to protect and serve the people, not assault them.

Yes, this cop can still get sued on assault charges too, but he still has a case from the the 2004 Republican national convention for a false arrest and civil rights violations that he still hasn’t gone to trial on (the trial is slated for next year). So how long will those who were assaulted have to wait now to get justice?

I don’t think he was punished near enough. He should have lost his job, end of story. His job is to uphold the law, and protect and serve. When it is demonstrated in footage like this that he can not uphold the part of the law he is supposed to keep, and he doesn’t know how to protect and serve, he is obviously ill qualified for his job and should be let go.

@amujinx I never said it makes sense. I am all for punishing him. But all the drama and the commotion around this case makes me question the true intention. Do you [people] want that guys head or what? He reacted badly [and he knows better].
Indeed he should loose a lot of privileges he has [moving him to another state doesn’t actually is a punishment] or even lose his job. If those ladies decide to sue him it’s their business. But let’s be human here or else we’ll resort to witch hunting really soon.
I’m not trying to make excuses for him but all I hear from people on this forum is TOLERANCE yet I see none…. you expect me to act like a Christian and show tolerance yet I never saw any coming from to many of you.

@Hibernate He knows better, but he said ” would do things the same way”. He is being transferred to Staten Island by the way, not out of state or even out of New York City for that matter (if I understand correctly where you were trying to go with that statement).

So we are supposed to have tolerance for police officers who would assault people who are doing nothing illegal? If we are supposed to tolerate that, then just bring on the Orwellian dystopia now. Liberty, justice and all the things our forefathers felt should be protected for Americans citizens be damned.

See? I only know the facts presented in this discussion thread. Nobody ever pointed out that he’s a jerk and he deserves everything that’s coming his way.
[yea was a mistake there wanted to say to Staten Island but I had to jump from the pc :P ]

So I’ll rest my defensive case for him. He doesn’t deserve it.

This transfer isn’t a punishment, it’s for his own protection. That they are selling it as disciplinary is a sham. His actual punishment was being docked two weeks’ worth of pay.

@wundayatta But let us not forget that this is neither Bologna’s first incident, nor even his only incident _that weekend. His “accident” story just doesn’t hold up to me.

Considering the standard of restraint police show, it seems like any punishment at all is a moral victory. And ten day’s pay is real money. If you could mete out more punishment, I’d say whoever is above him in the hierarchy ought to get a share.

Plus I’ll be cheering when she goes to court. Better she should reap the benefits than have him get fired and make a living going on talk shows and attending Tea Party rallies.