City settles three civil rights suits against former police Inspector Joseph Bologna for $267,500

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.

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.

He charged a security guard for a Fox29 reporter and struck him with the baton, ignoring the reporter who was shouting “we’re press!” The next day, he bludgeoned a Temple University student on or near the back of his head, sparking national outrage and costing Bologna his job.

The District Attorney’s Office is continuing to pursue criminal charges against Bologna, 56, in that beating, but the case remains on hold, pending a ruling from the state Superior Court on whether he should face counts of aggravated assault.

Meanwhile, the city has paid $267,500 to settle three federal civil rights suits filed against Bologna for his actions during the protests.

Last month, the city settled a lawsuit filed this year by Evan Gorski, the Temple student who said he needed 10 staples to close a head wound caused by Bologna’s attack during a scuffle near the entrance to the Vine Street Expressway. Bologna, a 31-year veteran with the department, has maintained that the baton did not strike Gorski’s head.

The Gorski case was settled for $175,000, according to the city Law Department.

In October, the city paid $55,000 to Shoshana Akins, a public participation planner at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, who alleged in her lawsuit that Bologna “methodically” twisted each of her fingers while they were zip-tied “to the point of nearly breaking them,” causing injuries that required her to take medical leave until September 2020.

She claimed that Bologna, while assaulting her, also whispered insults and profanity in her ear.

In May, the city paid $37,500 to Cayley Cohan, the New Jersey woman who Bologna tackled at 10th and Market Streets. Cohan was kept in a holding cell for approximately 19 hours, and was denied water until after she vomited twice due to dehydration, according to the lawsuit.

“It was a completely inappropriate, violent reaction,” Cohan’s attorney, Alan Yatvin, said of Bologna’s response. “It makes you wonder what they were thinking out there. It was a police brutality protest, and you respond to it with the sort of thing that’s being protested?”

Cohan was charged with felony aggravated assault and related offenses based on what her lawsuit said were false statements provided by another officer. Those charges were dropped in July 2020.

“If it hadn’t been for someone standing there recording the entire incident, she would have had some kind of conviction on her record,” Yatvin said. “It was going to be the word of several officers against hers.”

Charges filed against Akins and Gorski were also dropped.

Jonathan Feinberg, who represented both of them in their civil-rights cases, declined to comment Wednesday on the settlements.

Gorski’s case was particularly disturbing, due to both the level of force involved, and Gorski’s claim that Bologna conspired with two other officers to cover up the attack by filing false charges against Gorski, alleging that he’d caused another officer to suffer a broken hand.

“The violence and the outright lies we see in this case are stunning,” Feinberg said in February.

A city spokesman and Bologna’s attorneys declined to comment Thursday on the settlements.

Yatvin said one of the factors that led Cohan to settle her case is Bologna’s ongoing criminal case, which could make it impossible for him to be deposed due to his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Cohan filed her lawsuit in October 2021.

“We would still be in limbo today with no end in sight,” Yatvin said. “Cayley was ready to move on. She didn’t want to have this hanging over her.”

Prosecutors initially charged Bologna in June 2020 soon after video surfaced of the Gorski incident. A Municipal Court judge dismissed the charges in January 2021, ruling that there was insufficient evidence. But in August 2021, a Common Pleas judge reinstated two misdemeanor counts, saying Gorski “clearly retreats” before Bologna swung his baton.

Prosecutors are asking the Superior Court to allow them to move forward with the more serious felony charges. Oral arguments occurred last month.

“We have to do what we can … to make sure that putting him out there does not become a flash point and showing that I am true — we are true — to our word in ensuring accountability,” Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference in June 2020, when Bologna was pulled from the street.

Bologna had a checkered past within the Police Department, but was also well respected by some fellow officers.

In 2007, he was the supervisor of a Narcotics Field Unit squad whose members were caught on video smashing surveillance cameras and slicing wires during a raid of a bodega. Other store owners or managers alleged that the squad did the same thing at their stores — and took money and merchandise once the surveillance equipment was disabled.

One officer was fired, but later reinstated. Bologna was suspended for neglect of duty and failure to supervise, but by 2014 had been promoted twice and named captain of the 19th District in West Philly.

A tactical squad there was known for its misconduct complaints. His officers were the subject of a combined 25 civilian complaints and 37 departmental offenses in one 18-month period, according to a 2018 report by the news organization City & State Pennsylvania. Two of his former officers in that district topped the department’s list of cops with the most civilian complaints.

Within the leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5, however, Bologna has strong support. Some residents in West Philly where he’d worked said he was known to be friendly and accessible. He was applauded by more than 100 officers at the FOP headquarters when he surrendered to face aggravated assault charges.

FOP President John McNesby, a close ally of Bologna, has called him one of the city’s “most decorated and respected police leaders.” The union even sold “Bologna Strong” T-shirts in a show of support.

But some cops strongly disagreed with the union’s support for Bologna, with one telling The Inquirer at the time of Bologna’s arrest that it was a “slap in the face of every officer who pays dues and does not agree with what Joe did.”

McNesby declined to comment Thursday on the settlements in the federal cases.

Staff writers Barbara Laker and Max Marin contributed to this article.