Drunken NYPD cop punched Bronx woman 20 to 30 times after breaking into her apartment: source

New York Daily News – by ROCCO PARASCANDOLA

A Bronx woman who has accused an NYPD cop of breaking into her apartment during a drunken early morning attack told investigators that he viciously beat her in her bed, punching her more than 20 times.

Officer Eugene Donnelly, clad only in his underwear, eventually fled — but not before taking a drink of milk from her refrigerator, a source familiar with the woman’s account told the Daily News.  

Hours earlier, on June 10, Donnelly had experienced his most honorable moment since joining the NYPD in July 2010: He was awarded the Police Combat Cross — the department’s second-highest honor. After shaking hands with Mayor de Blasio at the NYPD’s Medal Day ceremony, Donnelly, 27, went out to celebrate. He tied one on, according to police sources, and wound up crashing at a friend’s apartment in Woodlawn.

Then, early on the morning of June 11, came Donnelly’s most dishonorable moment, cop sources say. He woke up and wandered out of his friend’s apartment, wearing only black underwear, police sources said.

He could not find his way back into the apartment. On the same floor as Donnelly’s friend’s pad was the apartment of a 30-year-old woman. She was fast asleep.

The woman told investigators she was awakened at 5:30 a.m. by a boom — the sound as Donnelly busted her front door open, according to the source familiar with her account.

When she sat up in bed, Donnelly was there, staring at her, the source said. Before she had a chance to react, he punched her in the face, the source said.

“Then he hit her again,’’ the source said. “She said he punched her twenty or thirty times.”

A police source added that Donnelly “beat the hell out of her.”

When he finally stopped hitting her, Donnelly left the room, opened the ’fridge, guzzled from her milk container, and then left, the source familiar with her account said.

The woman later told police she had never seen Donnelly before and that she had no idea who he was, police sources said.

Police took the milk container as evidence. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the Bronx District Attorney’s office are investigating.

The Bronx DA’s office has yet to decide whether the case will be presented to a grand jury, sources said.

Police initially prepared a wanted poster using an image of the attacker that was captured on a building surveillance camera. At least some copies of the poster were distributed before police learned the attacker was Donnelly, police sources said.

Donnelly, who earned the Police Combat Cross for arresting a gunman who had fired at him in the Bronx in May 2012, has been placed on modified duty and stripped of his gun and badge.

Stu London, Donnelly’s attorney, called the officer “a professional member of the service.”

“As this investigation unfolds all the decorated officer asks for is that the District Attorney keeps an open mind while investigating,’’ London said.

rparascandola@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/drunken-nypd-attacked-woman-bed-source-article-1.1845905