PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia judge on Tuesday approved a request by city prosecutors to reinstate some of the charges they filed against former police commander Joseph Bologna, who was captured on video last spring striking a Temple University student with a baton at the George Floyd protests in the city.
The charges against Bologna had been thrown out earlier this year, when another judge ruled at a preliminary hearing that Bologna’s conduct on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway had not amounted to a crime.
But Common Pleas Court Judge Crystal Bryant-Powell on Tuesday reversed part of that decision, ruling that the district attorney’s office had presented enough evidence for Bologna to be tried on charges of simple assault and possessing an instrument of crime.
Bryant-Powell dismissed counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. She did not explain her decision.
Still, during the hearing, she questioned Bologna’s attorneys about whether the longtime commander had needed to strike Evan Gorski, a Temple engineering student who was part of a crowd locked in a confrontation with police officers.
Video showed Gorski reaching toward another protester whom Bologna and other officers were trying to arrest. Bryant-Powell said Bologna, who then turned toward Gorski before striking him with his baton, “clearly goes that extra step” with his action, adding that Gorski “clearly retreats,” and “almost cowers down” as Bologna turned toward him.
Bologna’s prosecution had received widespread attention in the wake of the national discussion on police reform that began last year. And controversy around it continued to escalate earlier this year after Municipal Court Judge Henry Lewandowski III dismissed all counts against Bologna ― a decision that was hailed by many in the police union, and criticized by District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Bologna was arrested last June, after a video shared widely on social media showed him striking Gorski when a group of officers confronted a crowd protesting the killing of Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Philadelphia police initially arrested Gorski after that June 1 melee and accused him of assaulting an officer. But after the video surfaced, Krasner’s office dropped those charges and moved to prosecute Bologna instead.
Bologna, a 31-year veteran of the force, was subsequently fired.
The police officers’ union has steadfastly backed Bologna and said he had been simply doing his job during a chaotic and dangerous situation.
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