Trial begins for ex-Philadelphia cop accused of assaulting protester during 2020 racial justice demonstrations
“Nobody is above the law,” Assistant District Attorney Parker Nelson told the jury. “This defendant deserves a trial that judges him by his actions, not his rank or power.”
Was former Philadelphia Police Inspector Joseph Bologna’s use of force against a Temple University student during the 2020 protests following George Floyd’s killing unnecessary?
That was the key question put before jurors as Philadelphia prosecutors on Tuesday opened their case against the 57-year-old former police inspector, who faces charges of simple assault and possessing an instrument of crime for his role in the June 1, 2020, episode.
Bologna is accused of striking Evan Gorski, then 21, in his head area with a baton. Gorski was attempting to separate another protester from the inspector’s grasp as a line of officers dispelled a crowd along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that afternoon.
Should the jury find Bologna guilty, it would be the first criminal conviction of a Philadelphia law enforcement officer who responded to that summer’s protests over racial justice and aggressive policing, when the city’s police department was heavily scrutinized for its use of force against participants.
Much of Tuesday’s arguments centered on whether Bologna, then a 31-year veteran of the department, was justified in using that level of force against Gorski. In a video of the incident that was widely circulated on social media, Gorski is seen releasing the protester and backing away from Bologna before the inspector strikes him with his baton.
Gorski was later treated at a hospital for a head injury. Bologna was suspended, and ultimately fired from the police department as further allegations swirled that the officer used excessive force during the unrest.
“Nobody is above the law,” said Assistant District Attorney Parker Nelson during opening statements. “This defendant deserves a trial that judges him by his actions, not his rank or power.”
The case’s pathway to trial has been marred by twists and turns. First, it was Gorski who was initially accused of assaulting the officer, but those charges were dropped after the District Attorney’s Office reviewed video of the incident.
Bologna was then charged with multiple offenses. In 2021, however, a Common Pleas judge dismissed most of those charges, arguing that the high-ranking officer’s actions did not amount to a crime.
A push from the District Attorney’s Office later that year would lead a different judge to reinstate the two charges on which Bologna is now being tried. While Common Pleas Judge Crystal Bryant-Powell did not explain why she dismissed the aggravated assault and reckless endangerment charges, she questioned why Bologna would strike Gorski, who “clearly retreats” in a video of the altercation.
Common Pleas Judge Lucretia Clemons is presiding over Bologna’s trial. On Tuesday, the former police inspector sat at a table in the courtroom alongside his defense team, led by attorney Fortunato N. Perri, Jr.
Questioned as to why he intervened in Bologna’s attempted arrest, Gorski, testifying Tuesday, said his effort to pull the other protester away during the melee was “to keep the protester out of threat.”
As for his larger motivations to protest against racial injustice and police brutality that day, Gorski said: “I felt moved to use my voice and my body to participate and show that it’s not acceptable, what’s happening.”
Gorski testified that he was “recoiling” from Bologna before the strike. He was later treated at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he received 10 staples, as well as multiple stitches for the bloody laceration. He settled a lawsuit with the city for $175,000 in 2022.
Much of Bologna’s defense Tuesday centered around a report prepared by a former city medical examiner who, in January 2021, told the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division that Gorski had not been struck in the head by the baton. Instead, the examiner’s report said that Gorski was struck in the shoulder and likely suffered injuries from falling to the ground.
That former medical examiner is expected to testify in the coming days, Bologna’s lawyers said.
Perri told the jury that Bologna was tasked that day with “designing an operational plan to keep citizens safe, protesters safe, keep businesses safe,” and that they should not judge the officer’s actions based on a 20-second video.
But prosecutors insisted that Bologna’s show of force was not typical, pointing to testimony from Ian T. Adams, a former Utah police officer who now publishes research on police policy and teaches at the University of South Carolina.
While Adams told the jury that Gorski’s interference with police warranted his arrest, he said the student was not in a position to harm Bologna when the inspector hit him.
“The retreat from the baton is no longer posing a threat,” Adams said.
The trial is expected to resume Wednesday morning.