Boozy ‘hero’ in new mess
Third drunken bust for Finest
A troubled cop who once got so drunk he barged into a woman’s Bronx apartment and beat her senseless just hours after he was honored in an NYPD medal ceremony is in hot water again — accused of a booze-fueled assault on two cops in Baltimore, the Daily News has learned.
Officer Eugene Donnelly, 32, was charged with assault, disorderly conduct and intoxication. NYPD sources said the assault victims were Baltimore police officers and that he spit at one of them and punched and tried to kick the other.
Baltimore police said officers responded about 7 a.m. Tuesday to the Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel, near Camden Yards, after getting a call about an intoxicated man who refused to leave the lobby.
Further details were not immediately available. Donnelly appeared in court Wednesday, was released without bail and could not be reached for comment.
Donnelly on June 10, 2014, was awarded the Police Combat Cross, the department’s second-highest honor, for arresting a Bronx gunman who had fired at him two years earlier.
A Daily News photo captured Donnelly, Combat Cross around his neck, shaking hands with Mayor de Blasio at 1 Police Plaza during the NYPD’s annual Medal Day ceremony, which honors department personnel who have performed significant acts of heroism.
Hours later, early on June 11, Donnelly — who had celebrated by drinking himself into a stupor, police sources said — stepped out of a friend’s Woodlawn apartment where he was spending the night and broke into the nearby apartment of a 30-year-old woman.
The woman, who was a stranger, later told police Donnelly was clad only in his underwear when he viciously beat her for no reason while she was in her bed. Donnelly then guzzled milk from the woman’s refrigerator before leaving the scene.
The assault was a mystery at first, with police looking for a shirtless man captured on a surveillance camera. But Donnelly was soon identified and charged with misdemeanor assault and burglary.
His lawyer argued the cop was sleepwalking and didn’t realize what he had done — and that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the shooting for which he was honored.
Two years later, in May 2016, Donnelly was busted again, accused of crashing into three parked cars in Hamilton Heights while driving drunk at 5 a.m.
Firefighters had to rescue Donnelly from his Audi after it flipped onto its side. His bloodalcohol level was 0.22 — nearly three times the legal limit, according to court papers.
Donnelly pleaded guilty to aggravated driving while intoxicated and was fined $1,000. His license was also revoked and he had to take part in a DWI awareness program.
The following year Donnelly was sentenced to three years’ probation for the 2014 assault in the Bronx, with the agreement he get help for his drinking problem.
The nine-year veteran was working at a viper unit in Queens, monitoring video camera feeds at housing projects, when he was busted in Baltimore.
He was suspended without pay following his arrest.
Departmental charges filed against Donnelly for the Bronx attack are pending. Chief of Department Terence Monahan on Wednesday said he expected that case to be adjudicated “very quickly.”
“His career is over,” an NYPD source said.