'I'd do it again,' says police commander filmed pepper spraying the faces of women at Occupy Wall Street protest



The police commander whose over-zealous use of pepper spray on Occupy Wall Street protesters was caught on video believes he used the correct amount of force and 'would do things the same way' if given a second chance.

Explaining himself to New York police's Internal Affairs, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna says he has been 'tortured' since the incident.

He is also apparently stunned by the angry reaction to video that showed him squirting pepper spray into the faces of four female protesters during a march near Union Square on September 24.

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Take that: Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna's first use of pepper spray on September 24, spraying a protester as he walks away

And that: A website went on to list the names, phone numbers and addresses of Anthony Bologna's family members

The officer is a 30-year veteran of the force and told On The Inside 'I did not intend to spray the women' and that he 'acted with the best intentions.'

The commander says he was aiming at several male protesters who were not seen on a video that showed Bologna spraying the women.

His targets were lying on the ground trying to pull the legs out from under several cops who were holding NYPD orange crowd-control rubber mesh nets in front of them.



Straight in the face: A female protester screams out in agony after she was sprayed by police at close range



The spray fanned out and hit the women.

DNAinfo.com reports that Mr Bologna was 'shell shocked' when the video went viral and angry protesters began to make death threats against him and his family.

Their names and addresses were posted on the web.

Sources close to the Internal Affairs interrogation say Mr Bologna feared whether the NYPD 'was going to back me.'

Direct hit: Video posted on YouTube captures the moment that a female protester was targeted by police

In the end the NYPD ruled that Mr Bologna violated police guidelines during the incident, and told him on October 18 that he would be fined two weeks pay, approximately $6,000.

However, he still faces an inquiry by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Bologna gave his side of the story in a two-hour interview with NYPD Internal Affairs 10 days ago.

The Occupy Wall Street movement was only a few days old when Bologna was given the task of covering protests at Zuccotti Park.



Target: This posting, which appears on the site Pastebin.com, identifies the officer believe to have sprayed a group of women during the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests

About 60 police officers were posted at the encampment on September 24.

Confusion reigned when a large group of protesters marched out of the park and headed up to Union Square.

Mr Bologna decided to leave half of his officers at Zuccotti Park, taking the others with him to follow the march.

Rounded up: Police surround the women with an orange mesh pen before they are sprayed

Fearing he might be undermanned at Union Square, the commander called for reinforcements.

By the time more officers arrived, marchers hasd filled Manhattan's 14th Street and minor scuffles eruped between officers and demonstrators.

A group of demonstrators went off to 12th Street tried to corral them with orange rubber mesh fencing.

That is when the pepper spraying took place.

Then a second video surfaced of him using pepper spray against a different group of protesters on September 24.



