Oh my. Inspector Anthony Bologna, the NYPD cop who was identified as the officer responsible for attacking four helpless and unarmed women with pepper spray "never intended to spray the women."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRc7t6gRkhE
And that's not all. He thoughtfully reveals that there was yet another incident in which he was "forced to grab a woman." Forced to grab a woman. Unless he's got video of her showing that *she* was violently assaulting someone, I'm not buying it. But he maintains that in none of these incidents did he act out of any but the most heroic impulses and reasonable judgment. It appears that he was involved in another incident in 2004 leading to suits against him claiming Civil Rights violations. That's a lot of smoke for one fireless cop, but he's just doing his job and we are not appreciating him.
The POOR thing. HE is the victim here. That's probably why he ran away immediately after hitting that one woman directly in the face with the pepper spray that NYPD says their officers do not carry. I can see it so clearly now. Our hero saved the day and then instantly ran off to go save some other part of the world.
This is the classic language of an abuser. It was an accident (My intentions were good). It's all a misunderstanding (YOU don't get it). Things got out of control (I'm not perfect). It's not his fault, he was FORCED to it (it would have been worse if I hadn't). There was something else going one that no one saw but him (I'm a hero). When all else fails, feet to the fire, they'll acknowledge that they might have "a problem with my temper" (See above, I'm not perfect).
I could recite this garbage in my sleep. What's interesting is that they never have to explain why they injured or attempted to injure someone with the power to hurt them BACK. Nope. Miraculously, while there's often a history of trouble with smaller & weaker persons (or suspiciously non-white or non-male persons) the record is clean with regard to people perceived to be more powerful than himself. He hasn't ever slapped his boss. THAT would indicate a problem with his temper. When the police show up, he does not threaten them. That could get HIM in trouble, and his short fuse suddenly becomes the model of reason and patience. He's not out of control with his "defective temper" at all. His victims are carefully selected for maximum infliction of pain and minimum danger to himself. In short, he's a coward masquerading as a warrior. And when it goes wrong, he instantly becomes The Victim.
The video just doesn't lie. He did not aim at any three men lying on the ground and attacking his officers (although I'm quite certain that protesters routinely attempt to attack armed police officers by getting down on the ground first, thus trading every known law of physics in favor of surprise, those crafty devils). But he is most definitely NOT aiming at the ground. Not sure? Watch again. Right at her head, and then a full sweep of the kettled area containing all four of those vicious, violent, out of control women. He had to. It was a crisis. But in all of this "poor me" there is not one single mention of his failure to render assistance to the women that he "accidentally" sprayed directly in the face. As they lay writhing on the ground in agony, he turned his back and disappeared into the very same crowd that he wants us to believe were so threatening. Just *poofed*. Not one cop stepped forward to aid those girls. Not one. The collateral damage of his personal war on the bad guys (you remember right? those hidden men who where threatening his officers and who suddenly became a non-threat after the women were subdued -- THOSE guys) screamed for help, and Anthony Bologna was already gone. He was that alarmed. But not by what was happening to his officers. Nope. His only fear was that of discovery.
As it turns out, he had nothing to fear. They docked his vacation pay. And probably only because video of a second and separate attack surfaced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-eTi5-qNgA
This guy is nothing if not prolific. He's very fond of walking through the crowd with the pepper spray *in his hand*, looking for someone to attack. And who does he find? A journalist with a press pass bought it. And we see a handful of women, their faces contorted with pain, reacting to the spray. Not that they were doing anything interesting just before Mr. Bologna arrived to save us all from destruction. As soon as the deed is done, he disappears again. Two videos, and there is a clear pattern of behavior. It beggars belief that these are the ONLY two incidents. We put Ted Bundy to death on less evidence.
But Anthony Bologna is "tortured". He's tortured. That's what they do to political prisoners, you know. They torture them. So either his conscience is tortured (which would be difficult to achieve since he says he did not do anything even remotely wrong) or he's being tortured by someone else. Some unkind person or persons who are too stupid, self-centered, or unloving to understand that he only does it for our own good, and ONLY because he is forced to it.
If he thinks that the Reluctant Hero role is a good strategy, I wish him luck with that. Since the NYPD did not see fit to discipline this vicious thug of theirs, Anonymous has published his personal info. Doxing, it is called, and Anthony Bologna's dox are all over the web now. His wife and children are being treated as collateral damage in much the same way that the young women he deliberately sprayed in the face and refused to assist were just unfortunate bystanders and no concern of his. That's a shame. I generally don't hold with repaying thugs with a dose of their own medicine. But there are many who do, and I guess Mr. Bologna is one of them. So it's no surprise that he's finding himself on the wrong end of that stick. But I hope the rest of the NYPD are watching this little play and wondering if being protected by departmental backing makes the joy of attacking unarmed protesters worthwhile.
