NYPD Inspector Who Went Wild Pepper Spraying Protesters on Wall St

The scene of women in pain after being pepper-sprayed on 12th Street near University Place after a march from the Occupy Wall Street encampment in lower Manhattan. (JEFFERSON SIEGEL)

We follow this story closely in 2011 and covered how outraged NYC and the Country were outraged watching a Police Inspector act worse than a rookie cop lost on his first demonstration. Hopefully, this is the last we hear from this dude, so we wanted to show you that his real punishment was to be transferred to Staten Island.
Maybe this most have been when Staten Island had the Garbage Dump at Fresh Kills so he must've been right at home. At a time when cops are getting off after killing young black is interesting to know that nothing really happens to this cop even though his victims were white and their injuries were permanent. The city took the tax payers money and paid those victims but again the man in charge of this got a few days vacation clipped and moving to Staten Island.
If you got to "Cops Gone Wild" label and check on 2011 you can see our coverage. Any problems with those pages please let us know and we will take care of them.

 Anthony Bologna, the NYPD Deputy Inspector known as the "pepper spray cop" from a YouTube video released on Sept. 27, 2011, has retired from the force. (CJGRAPSKI VIA YOUTUBE)

An NYPD deputy inspector who rose to infamy after he pepper-sprayed women for no apparent reason during Occupy Wall Street has retired with a full pension.

Anthony Bologna — whose inexplicable action got him dubbed Tony Baloney in a legendary “Daily Show” skit — called it a career after 35 years on the job.

Fellow cops will fete Bologna on July 11 at a Lower Manhattan restaurant in Battery Park, near the Zuccotti Park home base of OWS. The restaurant features $28 pasta bolognese, and tickets are $75 for the event.

“I think it’s just a little disappointing that he was never really penalized for pepper spraying me,” said Kelly Schomburg, 24 of Boston, who was 18 when Bologna sprayed her. “It absolutely felt swept under the rug.” 

Bologna, 63, rose to infamy on Sept. 24, 2011, when he used the spray on protestors, most of them women, at an OWS gathering near Union Square.

Videos of Bologna approaching the group and blasting them with pepper spray went viral and helped galvanize the movement that had begun just days earlier.

Cops corralled Schomburg and the others behind orange netting when Bologna abruptly began spraying them. The city settled at least seven subsequent lawsuits to the tune of $382,501. 

Bologna lost 10 vacation days after the incident. In October 2011, he was transferred to Staten Island. He retired in April. The transfer was portrayed as disciplinary but it actually cut Bologna’s commuting time. Some thought Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance should have brought charges against him.

“He goes to Staten Island, where he has less of a commute and retires with a huge pension,” said lawyer Ron Kuby, who represented some of the women Bologna sprayed.

“Right now instead of retiring, he should be getting off probation.” Kuby said the treatment of Bologna is part of a Vance pattern of coddling cops.

“The DA allows and encourages police officers to engage in misconduct,” he said. “This cop lost his temper because a bunch of women didn’t do what he told them to do. I hope DA Vance is invited to the party. He certainly earned his invite.”

Added Schomburg’s lawyer Debra Greenburger, “It's deeply troubling that he has never been held accountable .”

Joan Vollero, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, sent the Daily News a list of 20 cops the office has either indicted or convicted.

"This Office has a clear track record of prosecuting official misconduct cases involving on-duty officers and other uniformed employees, including correctional personnel," she said. Within the NYPD, Bologna has his supporters. Roy Richter, head of the Captains Endowment Association, said the cop had a distinguished run.

“Late in his career, he became well-known for all of the wrong reasons, but overall he served the NYPD honorably and he had a very successful career,” Richter said. “He’s leaving on his terms with his head held high and he’s looking forward to a happy retirement.”

In the “Daily Show” sketch, actor Christopher Meloni lampoons Bologna as a macho nut who carries multiple canisters of pepper spray and then goes rogue after he is suspended and sprays random people on a city street.

Schomburg moved back to Boston and is in now in college for women’s studies.

“It was a really upsetting period of my life,” she said. “I was swept up in a storm. It’s not something I look back on fondly.”

Bologna joined the NYPD in 1982 and spent much of his career assigned to the First Precinct in Lower Manhattan and the Manhattan South Task Force.

Richter said Bologna reached the department’s mandatory retirement age.

New York Daily News