Cops May Charge OWS Protester

Yesterday an Occupy Wall Street protester was bloodied by an NYPD supervisor who now claims that the protester attempted to elbow him as the crowd passed. The cop's attack on Felix Rivera-Pitre was caught on camera and became an internet sensation at once.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said in a statement that cops are looking to arrest Rivera-Pitre for attempted assault on a police officer, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Rivera-Pitre was "sucker-punched in the jaw with sufficient force to knock him to the ground," Kuby wrote. The officer - identified by police sources as Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona, 47 - should be charged with assault, Kuby insisted. But Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman, said Rivera-Pitre provoked the confrontation by trying to elbow Cardona in the face - a blow the officer deflected.

Rivera-Pitre has hired a civil rights attorney.