City Leaves Police Official Without Lawyer to Fight Protester’s Lawsuit

Video taken Oct. 14, 2011, shows a police official identified in a lawsuit as Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona appearing to hit a protester.

For the second time in a case stemming from Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, city lawyers are not stepping forward to defend a police commander accused of mistreating protesters, according to court papers filed on Wednesday.

The commander in the new case, Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona, is named in a federal lawsuit brought by one protester, Felix Rivera-Pitre, who contends he was punched in the face during confrontations with the police in Lower Manhattan in October 2011.

Amateur video taken at the time shows a high-ranking officer in a white shirt strike Mr. Rivera-Pitre. His lawyers claim in a federal complaint filed in January that it is Inspector Cardona who is seen in the video throwing the punch.

The city denied the accusations made in the complaint, which also names the City of New York. But its court documents filed on Wednesday do not describe any representation for Inspector Cardona. Michael A. Cardozo, who is in charge of the city’s Law Department, is listed as representing only the city in the suit.

Neither the Law Department nor the Police Department immediately responded to queries on Wednesday.

Ronald L. Kuby, a lawyer for Mr. Rivera-Pitre, said in a statement that he was “glad the city recognizes Cardona is not worth defending, but it is disturbing that the same city gives him a badge, a gun and a six-figure salary.”

Last year, the Law Department declined to represent another commander, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, in a federal suit over his use of pepper spray on Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Mr. Cardozo said in a statement on the Bologna case, “State law prohibits the city from representing or indemnifying city employees who are found to have violated agency rules and regulations.”

Inspector Bologna had been found to have violated Police Department guidelines when he squirted the chemical at protesters near Union Square in September 2011. The Law Department pointed to that finding when it declined to represent him.

No such findings were made in the case of Mr. Cardona.

In the Bologna case, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly criticized the Law Department for declining to defend the commander. “I think it can have a chilling effect on police officers taking action,” Mr. Kelly told reporters at the time.