PHILADELPHIA _ A high-ranking Philadelphia police officer has been removed from the street after video surfaced of him beating a Temple University student with a baton, including near his head, during a Monday protest by the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Other video clips of Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna show similarly aggressive behavior over several days toward people protesting against oppressive policing.
One video shows Bologna on Sunday lunging at a TV reporter and striking a security guard. Another shows him on Tuesday throwing his bike and tackling a woman, immediately causing tensions to flare between police and protesters.
Now, Bologna is expected to be charged with aggravated assault and related offenses, law enforcement sources said Friday.
Bologna, who earns $126,339 a year, also had his gun taken away Thursday evening pending an Internal Affairs investigation, according to police sources.
At a news conference earlier Friday, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw acknowledged "several videos" have emerged on social media showing Bologna and other officers using force in a manner that "does not appear to be in accord with our policy."
Calling the videos of Bologna "disturbing" because they appeared to show him striking someone above the neck _ a use of force that could be potentially lethal _ Outlaw said the department opened Internal Affairs investigations into him and several other officers.
"I am deeply concerned about this," she said. "I assure you that each of these investigations will be conducted in a thorough and objective manner without undue delay."
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday afternoon that charges against Evan Gorski, 21, a Temple engineering student, were dropped after District Attorney Larry Krasner reviewed evidence that included video of Gorski's Monday encounter with Bologna.
Gorski's attorney, R. Emmett Madden, said he had been told by court personnel that Gorski was being held on allegations that he assaulted a police officer by pushing him off a bike, causing the officer to break a hand. In a video, Gorski _ with a ponytail and wearing an Eagles jersey _ is seen briefly attempting to separate an officer and a protester, but he immediately retreats when Bologna raises his baton.
The video shows Bologna then strike Gorski sharply on or near his head and tackle him, while another officer presses Gorski's face to the pavement by placing his knee on the back of his head and neck. Madden said Gorski required medical treatment.
The following day, Bologna lashed out at a protester at 10th and Market streets when a young woman apparently tapped his bike tire, according to witnesses and video of the incident.
"The man I saw that night, even before his run-in with that young woman, was obviously pushed to his limit," said Dominic Carullo, 36, a grad student who was at the march. "Hypervigilant, reactive, angry and dangerous."
Bologna did not respond to a request for comment Friday. He told WHYY, "Right now, I'm handling operations from the office," but declined to elaborate.
Outlaw said Friday that it was too early to conclude definitively that Bologna had crossed a line.
The videos provide just "one snapshot of what happened," she said. "An investigation will tell us what led up to that, will give us the circumstances around it once we have the opportunity to interview the inspector himself to find out what he was thinking at the time he made the decision to use force. It's not just cut-and-dry."
Contacted later, a police spokesperson declined to give a number of how many officers, like Bologna, had been pulled from their assignments pending investigations.
