The unprovoked "sucker punch" of an Occupy Wall Street protester Friday's march in New York City has now been seen by millions. It was unclear from the videos who the ranking officer (White Shirt) who violently attacked the man was - but the NY Daily News now confirms his identity was Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona.

This comes as no surprise to me as when I first viewed the footage I immediately recognized the officer by his demeanor and tried to get a positive identification from stills taken from the videos. The photos suggested strongly that this was Cardona, whose involvement in the violence that led to the pepper-spraying of innocent citizens on September 24th by D.I. Anthony Bologna I documented here on DailyKos two weeks ago, but I was unable to pin down the identity until the release of his name to the Daily News. [NOTE: Click here for animated gif of punch; here for the look that caused it]

As a community we were able to reveal that Bologna's act on September 24th was neither justified nor an isolated incident - but a pattern - and we were able to get that important aspect of the story to the national and international media's attention and to force official investigations into Bologna's activities. It also appears to have kept Bologna off the streets during this time and prevented furtehr abuses by him.

I warned that the same concern should be raised by Cardona's violent attack on a young woman, arbitrary and unprovoked, when he singled her out and grabbed her by the head and throat from behind the orange netting and forced her to the ground, dragged her under the barricade into the street, appears to have kicked her (and similar acts appear possible in Friday's incident) while on the ground, and had her forcibly arrested.

The interests of public safety require that Cardona be taken off of the streets immediately and that he be added to the investigations currently ongoing by the NYPD Internal Affairs Division, the Citizens Complaint Review Board (CCRB), and by the Manhatten District Attorney.

Just as with D.I. Anthony Bologna it was the collective and collaborative efforts of those here on Daily Kos and those we were able to share this story with that made the difference in gettting both the media to pay attention to the story and in shifting the official NYPD line from a "justified" and "limited" use of force, contrary to the initial video evidence, we again can and must take action to support our fellow members of the 99% and to assure all of our rights to peacefully assemble, speak freely, and seek to petition our government for redress of grievances without the fear of aribitrary violence by police officers.

Please again contribute to this Movement by spreading the word about D.I. Johnny Cardona - demanding that the evidence of his wrongdoing be made public and that he be removed from active duty on the streets immediately pending formal investigation by the above named entities.

If we work together, as we did with D.I. Anthony Bologna, we can make a difference and contribute significantly from our positions in cyberspace to the ongoing Movement. Tweet, post to Facebook, share via email, etc. this story as far and wide as you can. Alert the media to D.I. Cardona's identity and the evidence of his pattern of abuse. Call upon NY and Federal authorities to investigate these matters.

Together we can change the world. We proved it once. Now we can do it again.

See the original diary: