Young love: Robert Godt and Kaylee Dedrick...engaged!

Kaylee Dedrick was just an innocent Occupy Wall Street protester back in September when Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna blew pepper spray directly into her face, which in turn blew her directly into the arms of her now-fiance.

It's an OWS Valentine's miracle!

We had written (somewhat cynically, because we are cold-hearted Scrooges), that the romance between Ms. Dedrick and 24-year-old Robert Grodt from Santa Cruz was bound to fail, despite the fact that the duo had met when he saved her from further harm after the pepper spraying incident, pulling her into a nearby movie theater and washing her eyes out. We weren't just hating: Mr. Godt had told The Wall Street Journal in November that he had enjoyed the sleeping bags of several women since arriving at Zuccotti Park, and that his out-in-the-open make-out sessions were "a natural human thing."

While the timeline is a little bit fuzzy as to when Mr. Godt and Ms. Dedrick officially started dating, (as well as to when Ms. Dedrick started being interested in men) The New York Observer pegged him as a Z-Park playa, and had entirely forgotten about the incident until we received an email from Kaylee Dedrick's mother this afternoon.

She informed us that the two were now engaged, and that Mr. Godt had proposed to her daughter in Zuccotti Park on New Year's Eve.

"And he is really a nice guy after all," wrote the older Ms. Dedrick.

Hey, we're happy to admit that we were wrong to judge the love between two demonstrators: mazal tov to the both of you.

Kaylee Dedrick and Robert Grodt (via NYDN)

Remember the beautiful story of love amongst the protesters? When Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna used his pepper spray on the young Kaylee Dedrick, her savior came in the form of a young man from Santa Cruz named Robert Grodt, who dragged Ms. Dedrick to safety and washed her face in a utility closet. The two claimed to have been inseparable ever since the September 24th attack. So why did Mr. Grodt talk to the Wall Street Journal about all the women he was banging exactly one month later?

From an October 24th piece titled "At Zuccotti Park, Love Under the Tarps":

Robert Grodt did not expect to find romance when he left his girlfriend in Santa Cruz to join the demonstration. But Grodt, 24, has met — and shared sleeping bags with — several women.

“It’s a natural human thing,” Grodt said. “It’s part of our support structure. It’s nice to have someone to care about. It’s nice to have someone to hug and kiss.”

Several women? Several women, Mr. Grodt?? You'd better hope Ms. Dedrick, who has a history of litigious anger, does not decide to take you to court herself...or just pepper spray your stupid free love "support structure" right in the face.

Anthony Bologna gets docked

One of the pepper-sprayed women, Kaylee Dedrick, is planning to go ahead with her misdemeanor charges against Officer Bologna, according to Gawker. Meanwhile, Officer Bologna's own union spokesperson commented:

"Deputy Inspector Bologna is disappointed at the results of the Department investigation. His actions prevented further injury and escalation of tumultuous conduct," said Roy Richter, president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association.

The problem is, 10 vacation days is not going to pacify those who were pepper-sprayed, but it does prove the NYPD believes Officer Bologna was in the wrong...which is sure to make his own case less strong should he be sued. Again: nobody wins!

Photo via Flickr

While the NYPD continues to make promises of an investigation of Deputy Inspector Anthony "Tony Bologna" Bologna's use of pepper-spray on unarmed female protesters during Saturday's Occupy Wall Street protests, he has yet to be disciplined. Despite videos showing two separate incidents of what appears to be unwarranted and abusive use of the weapon, Inspector Bologna still remains in active service. While that may seem like a grave injustice to women like Chelsea Elliott who were harmed during the attacks, the public outcry has been strong enough for the offices of Manhattan D.A. Cyrus R. Vance Jr. to launch a separate investigation into the case.

A spokesperson from the D.A.'s office told The New York Times today:

“The district attorney’s office takes all allegations of police misconduct seriously...(the arrests are) being reviewed under the standard procedure.”

While that might not sound very reassuring and pretty damn vague -- there was absolutely no mention of a specific officer or incident -- a source that had been briefed on the situation told The New York Times that Inspector Bologna's "episode" with the protesters were being investigated specifically due to the large amount of complaints the city received after the videos went viral.

Fun fact: Anthony Bologna works in the NYPD's counterterrorism unit, and according to one (anonymous) officer on the scene, wasn't intending to spray the women, but was aiming for "some men who he believed were pushing up against officers and causing a confrontation that put officers at risk of injury." Let's watch that video again, shall we?

It's true that we only have one angle of the incident to go on, but unless Inspector Bologna was aiming for the back of the head of the single male individual in black who was in the same vicinity of the meshed-in ladies, it appears that the spray was either indiscriminate, or intended for the women he was aiming for. Unless of course, the NYPD is referring to this second video, in which it is unclear who Inspector Bologna was spraying at...but since the police department's official stance is that pepper-spray was only deployed once during the protests, they are in a tough position of having to refer to evidence they won't admit the existence of in order to make that case.

At the time of this writing, the NYPD still has not responded to our inquiries regarding the second video.

The New York Observer was reserving judgment on Officer Bologna, because there is a lot of misinformation being spread out there by both the NYPD and "Occupy New York" sympathizers. But now a second video has surfaced of Bologna using the pepper-spray on another group during Saturday's protests, just to get them out of his way.

The New York Times said Bologna's nonchalant attitude "looked as if he were spraying cockroaches." Then it turned out that this particular officer has a history of complaints regarding protestor abuse. The longer the NYPD sits on this, the worse it's going to get, as evidenced by Lawrence O'Donnell's seven minute tirade demanding the heads of Officer Bologna and his superiors at police department.

NYPD spokesperson Paul J. Browne told The New York Times' that the deputy had used the spray "appropriately," and that it was deployed only once during the protests. We've put in a request to the NYPD's press department for an updated statement now that this second video has been released. We'll update if and when we get a response.