Pepper-Spraying NYC Cop Hit With Earlier Lawsuit

Friend-of-protesters-everywhere Anonymous has posted the ID and personal information of a controversial pepper-spraying New York cop. The info comes just as it emerges that the officer is already the target of a lawsuit linked to another protest. Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna recently whipped out the spray to suddenly spritz full in the face four women during a weekend demonstration against Wall Street. Video of the confrontation shows that Bologna's action appears to stun even his colleagues. But it might be par for the course for Bologna. He's accused of civil rights violations and false arrest in a lawsuit by a man busted during protests outside the 2004 Republican National Convention in Manhattan, reports the Guardian. The case will be heard in the coming months.

Anonymous has warned Bologna: "We are watching! Expect us! We were shocked and disgusted by you behavior." But the NYPD is standing by its man, calling the use of pepper spray on the women, who were corralled within orange mesh along the demonstration route, "appropriate." The women were "trying to interfere with police trying to disperse a crowd," a police spokesman told the New York Daily News. "We've been the victims of this." (More Anthony Bologna stories.)