I have frequently referred to the District Attorney of Philadelphia as the “George Soros-sponsored, police-hating and criminal-loving Larry Krasner,” and he goes out of his way to prove me right. He loves to cut real criminals a break, and charge Philadelphia Police officers with crimes whenever he can. The incident was during the riots over the unfortunate death while being arrested of the methamphetamine-and-fentanyl-addled, previously convicted felon George Floyd in Minneapolis, when the Usual Suspects went wild in the City of Brotherly Love.
Joseph Bologna was acquitted by a Philadelphia jury on charges of simple assault and possessing an instrument of a crime.
by Jesse Bunch | St Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2024 | 12:37 PM EST | Updated: 6:24 PM EST
Joseph Bologna, the former Philadelphia police inspector accused of assaulting a Temple University student with a baton during the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd, was not guilty of assault, a jury determined Wednesday.
The Philadelphia jury found Bologna, 57, not guilty of simple assault and possessing an instrument of crime, reaching the decision in about 30 minutes.
In roughly half an hour, huh? That tells us that the jury, which had to be unanimous, had no hesitation at all, that whatever case he believed he had, Mr Krasner and his minions came nowhere close to convincing the jurors.
Bologna’s defense lawyer Fortunato N. Perri Jr. told the jury during closing arguments that his client’s life had been a “nightmare” during the 3½ years since he was arrested for his actions, which took place during the June 1 melee on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City.
The Philadelphia Police Department faced heavy scrutiny over its use of force during that summer’s protests over racial injustice and police brutality. That includes Bologna, who was accused by multiple people of using excessive force during demonstrations.
Really? Accused by whom? The police-hating demonstrators themselves?
Of course, The Philadelphia Inquirer went all-in on screaming, “Police brutality,” like a typical villain, caricatured lawyer, or street preacher in a police show like Blue Bloods!
“It makes you wonder what they were thinking out there,” one attorney said. “It was a police brutality protest, and you respond to it with the sort of thing that’s being protested?”
by William Bender | Friday, December 23, 2022 | 5:00 AM EST
In the spring of 2020, as civil unrest erupted across the country following the murder of George Floyd, video clips that circulated on social media showed how a volatile situation could explode into chaos when Philadelphia Police Inspector Joseph Bologna got involved.
I do not like using photos from the Inquirer, but this article demands it, under Fair Use guidelines. I included it to show the caption that the newspaper used:
Joseph Bologna, then an inspector with the Philadelphia Police Department, repeatedly appeared in videos during the spring of 2020, escalating already volatile confrontations with protesters. Three lawsuits against him were settled this year.
Inflammatory much? Back to the body of the article:
At 10th and Market Streets, for example, a young woman appeared to tap Bologna’s bicycle tire with her foot as they passed each other while crossing the street. Bologna, then the operations commander for the department’s patrol bureau, reacted violently. He threw his bike, lunged at her, and tackled her to the ground.
That, in turn, set off a wave of pushing, shoving, and cursing between protesters and police officers.
In other videos, Bologna was seen wielding his collapsible metal baton like a hammer in search of a nail.
Really? Did Mr Krasner or his minions fail to present these videos to the jury trying him, or did that jury not see what reporter William Bender tell readers that they showed?
No responsible editor of a (purportedly) unbiased media source would ever have allowed an article written in that manner to be published, not as news, under which it was listed.
Mr Bologna had the charges against him dismissed by Municipal Court Judge Henry Lewandowski III, in January of 2021, when he ruled that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to establish that Inspector Bologna’s use of his baton against Evan Gorski — captured on video — amounted to a crime.
Mr Krasner’s reaction? He refiled the charges against Mr Bologna the following month, saying, “Philadelphians demand evenhanded justice and we are trying our very best to give them exactly that.” Of course, the DA had dismissed the arresting charges against Mr Gorski, showing you that the District Attorney was not being evenhanded, but a partisan favoring the protesters.
Back to the first article cited:
District Attorney Larry Krasner, when asked about Bologna’s acquittal during an unrelated news conference, said that he had no criticism of the jury’s decision, but that his office was “obviously hoping for a different verdict.”
“I know that the culture in the system, the culture in society, tends to give every benefit of the doubt to law enforcement who are charged with crimes,” Krasner said. “We accept this outcome. I am proud of the fact that our investigations unit worked so hard to try to get justice in ways that my predecessors never even tried.”
In other words, the DA and his minions went after Mr Bologna as hard as they could, including the refiling of dismissed charges, yet they were unable to come up with anything sufficient, in a case which lasted barely a day in the courtroom, to persuade even a single juror to even push deliberations beyond the bare minimum. How could the super-duper legal eagles in the District Attorney’s office not know that they really had no case?
After the trial, Gorski said that although he understood the jury’s decision based off of admissible evidence, he was “ultimately disappointed” with the outcome.
Gorski said he would still like an apology from Bologna, but his expectations are low after he didn’t receive one during his civil lawsuit against the city that settled for $175,000 in 2022.
Not only does Mr Gorski not deserve an apology, he ought to get a hearty, “F(ornicate) you!” from Mr Bologna, and the rest of the Philadelphia Police Department.
“A jury of Joe Bologna’s peers listened intently to the evidence presented at trial and rendered a fair and just verdict,” Roosevelt Poplar, the police union’s president, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
Asked whether Bologna would try to get back his job with the Philadelphia Police Department, Perri said his client would “look at all his options.” Later in the day, the FOP confirmed that it would begin the process of getting Bologna reinstated.
“Hopefully, he gets back to work,” Perri said.
The average Chief Inspector salary in Philadelphia, PA is $97,661 as of January 26, 2024, but the salary range typically falls between $81,643 and $116,751. Former Inspector Bologna should receive 3½ years of back pay, and restoration of all pensions and benefits. And he should be restored to his position with the Department.
