A former Philadelphia police lieutenant has been acquitted of assault charges for using a baton during an encounter with protesters during a 2020 racial justice demonstration.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a juror was arrested in an incident that was captured on video during a protest on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd. On Wednesday, 57-year-old Joseph Bologna was found not guilty on charges of simple assault and possession of criminal instruments.
Defense attorney Fortunato Perry Jr. told jurors in closing arguments that his client’s life in the three-and-a-half years since his arrest had been a “nightmare.” He cited a section of the city police code that says the use of force is justified if a person resists arrest or threatens bodily harm. He also said Bologna’s choice to strike when a then-21-year-old Temple University student tried to intervene in another arrest was a “quick decision” in a “rapidly evolving” situation.
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Perry said medical examinations showed the protester was never hit directly in the head with a baton. He said an internal affairs investigation found no evidence of departmental violations by the employee.
On May 30, 2020, police and protesters clash in Philadelphia. (Photo credit: Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto, Getty Images)
Bologna was fired after video of the confrontation was widely shared on social media and other reports about his actions during the riot surfaced.
The Inquirer reported that before deliberations began, prosecutors and defense attorneys told jurors that the city medical examiner’s office told jurors that the man was struck with a baton in the upper back, not the head, and that a bloody gash was found in the officer’s motorcycle helmet. It was reported that the agreement was that it arose from the incident. .
Prosecutors have pointed to testimony from a former Utah police officer turned researcher and teacher who said he was in no position to pose any harm when a protester struck a police officer, saying the use of force was not typical. He claimed that there was no.
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Bologna was originally charged with multiple crimes, including aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, but a judge dismissed those charges in 2021. Another judge later reinstated the two counts against Bologna.
