A Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday that൲ a cop caught drenching a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters with pepper spray must submit to a🃏 grilling by a city watchdog agency.
Deputy 𝓰Inspectꦓor Anthony Bologna sued the Civilian Complaint Review Board last August to block questioning over allegations that he used excessive force against the demonstrators in September 2011.
The Manhattan district attorney declined to file ch🉐arges and the NYPD only punished Bologna by docking him 10 vacation days.
Bologna’s attorney had argued that the board has no authority to take additional disciplinary measures.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joan Lobis noted in her decision that, according to city law, CCRB “interviews of officers are compulsory.”
“This court finds that the allegations contained in the CCRB complaints that Deputy Inspector Bologna’s discharge of pepper spray constituted excessive use of force ‘would, if proved in a court of appropriate jurisdiction, constitute a crime,'” Lobis added.
The white shirt inspector was caught in a video that went viral dousing wom▨en penned in by a police barrier with a spray cannister. At least four of those women filed complaints with the CCRB against Bologna.
A spokeswoman for the CCRB said only that the agency plans to set a date for Bologna’s questioning next week.
Roy Richter, president of the Captain’s Endowment Association, told the Post Bologna does not intend to appeal the decision.
“To the extend that he’s directed to report to CCRB to answer questions about the incident he will be fully cooperative as he has been with every other investigative body that’s reviewed his actions that day,” Richter said.