City teacher charged with hitting cop during protest

A city school teacher who assaulted an NYPD sergeant was among eight protesters arrested for rioting on the Upper East Side, police sources said Friday.

Mikael Bucknavage allegedly elbowed Sgt. Leonardo Deoliveira in the forehead, drawing blood as he tried to avoid being busted for spray painting a building at Fifth Ave. and E. 76th St. at 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to a criminal court complaint.

Bucknavage, 23, dressed in black, was among three dozen protesters at what was supposed to be an anti-police brutality demonstration in response to the killing of Daunte Wright by cops in Minnesota.

But members of an anarchist group, Black Bloc, broke store and car windows, harassed people dining outside, defaced storefronts and yelled “kill cops,” police said. The same message was also spray-painted on at least one building.

Seven other people were busted for riot and other charges.

Only Bucknavage, 23, who is accused of felony assault, riot and resisting arrest, went through the system.

But before he appeared in court, sources said, Bucknavage called his girlfriend and told her how to log onto his Department of Education email, pretend to be him and let his boss know he’d be “out sick” Thursday.

Bucknavage was arraigned Thursday night. The educator was released without bail. His lawyer had no comment.

Bucknavage is from Mamaroneck but lives in Brooklyn. He had nothing to say when the Daily News saw him outside his Bedford-Stuyvesant home Friday.

The city Department of Education refused to say where Bucknavage works, saying only that he is no longer in a classroom. The DOE also declined to comment on his past and current arrests.

The teacher attended Rye Neck High School, where he was captain of the track team, according to an online theater guide to a 2015 performance of “The Music Man,” for which Bucknavage played Harold Hill, a con man who plays a boys’ band leader to convince naive residents of an Iowa town to donate money for instruments and unifroms. He previously played the title character in “Shrek,” the guide said.

Last July 28, he was charged with resisting arrest during a scuffle with a cop at Madison Ave. and E. 25th St. Police said he shoved the officer during the confrontation. That case was adjourned contemplating dismissal, but the Wednesday arrest could endanger that dismissal, sources said.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea on Thursday said he would demand jail time for the accused rioters.

“I’m past asking,” he said. “I’m actually demanding at this point. They need to go to jail. They need to be held accountable. They were arrested for misdemeanors. They cannot be not prosecuted. [For a] misdemeanor in New York state, you’re eligible for up to a year in jail.

“Well, I can’t think of anyone that deserves a year in jail better than that.”