A Bronx police officer is facing misdemeanor battery charges after reportedly breaking into a woman’s apartment and assaulting her. But don’t worry, he had a really good reason for it—so his lawyers say.
In June 2014, officer Eugene Donnelly allegedly entered a woman’s apartment wearing nothing but his black boxer shorts and punched her up to 20 times before going through her refrigerator and drinking her milk. According to the New York Daily News, he admitted to not initially reporting what happened because he thought it was all a dream.
While prosecutors accuse him of being drunk, his lawyer Michael Marinaccio says he was sleepwalking when the odd and violent exchange occurred. "Our report shows that it wasn't an alcoholic blackout. It was sleepwalking.”
However, his 32-year-old victim doesn’t believe that. "It took them over a year to come up with this defense," the 32-year-old told the New York Daily News. "It’s ridiculous. He’s grasping at straws."
Even more damning, Donnelly admitted to prosecutors that he had been drinking again after battling alcoholism stemming from an incident in May 2012. The 27-year-old officer was lauded for arresting a teenage shooter following a Bronx gunfight. The night he broke into the woman’s apartment, he actually received the Police Combat Cross—NYPD’s second-highest honor—from Mayor de Blasio for that capture.
"On the best day of this guy's life, he does something so out of character," Marinaccio added. "Can we at least consider the possibility that something else is going on here?" Donnelly revealed that he had also been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep-related issues as a result of the 2012 event. “The sleepwalking is just a manifestation of a broader sleep disorder,” Marinaccio told the New York Daily News.
Donnelly handed in his gun and badge, and has been placed on modified duty until the case is resolved.
