NEW YORK - September 27, 2011 - Activists have identified the senior New York Police Department officer who pepper-sprayed young women at the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, and it's not the first time he has been accused of civil rights abuses.
The Guardian has confirmed that the officer is Anthony Bologna, who was also accused of civil rights abuses and false arrest during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.
Photographs of the officer's badge also suggested that Bologna was the person in question.
A file released by the hacker group Anonymous pointed to a 2007 civil rights lawsuit filed against Bologna.
Post A. Posr, the man named as a plaintiff in that suit, was arrested during the 2004 convention, although he wasn't actively taking part in the protests.
"Police contend that Posr hit the man with a rolled-up newspaper," Posr lawyer Alan Levine told The Guardian. "He said he was just talking to the guy. Bologna ordered another officer, Camejo, to arrest Posr."
Posr was taken to a makeshift detention facility at Pier 57, where he was held until the protests were finished.
Officer Tulio Camejo has also been named in the lawsuit.
"A bunch of us were wondering if any of the same guys were involved," said Levine.
Questions about Bologna appear to go back to at least 2001, when the People's Law Collective claimed that arrests he made helped incite a May Day riot.
Chelsea Elliott, one of the pepper-sprayed activists, described her ordeal and declared her determination not to be intimidated by criminal police.
"I will march again," she said. "But (next time) I'll wear sunglasses and a bandana."
