PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A former Philadelphia police commander is on trial on assault charges, stemming from an incident of civil unrest in the summer of 2020.
Joseph Bologna , 58, is charged with simple assault and possession of an instrument used in a crime. He is accused of striking a college student with a baton during a demonstration in the city following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Pennsylvania Superior Court had previously dismissed charges of aggravated assault.
Cell phone videos seen widely on social media captured the alleged assault from different angles: a push and shove between police and protesters along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The accuser, who received a $140,000 settlement from the city, told the jury he was arrested and taken to a hospital to get stitches and staples in his head, after Bologna struck him in the head with a baton.
The defense argued the protester was interfering with the arrest of someone else, and that Bologna’s actions aligned with departmental policy. Deputy Commissioner John Stanford, who was working in Internal Affairs at the time of the incident, told the jury the internal investigation cleared Bologna of wrongdoing.