An NYPD officer who was accused in 2014 of breaking into a woman's home in his boxers and assaulting her, just hours after being honored with the NYPD's second-highest achievement medal, made the case in court this week that he was sleepwalking—not intoxicated—when he broke down the woman's door, allegedly struck her 20 times, and quaffed milk from her refrigerator.
Eugene Donnelly, 27, was charged with misdemeanor assault and burglary after the June 10, 2014 incident. According to a preliminary investigation, Donnelly had decided to crash at a friend's Woodlawn apartment that night, and at some point strayed in his boxers, ultimately mistaking the victim's apartment for his friend's. While sources told the Daily News at the time that Donnelly had been out drinking that night, his attorney told reporters after a court appearance on Tuesday that his own report shows "that it wasn't an alcoholic blackout. It was sleepwalking."
Mayor de Blasio awarded the four-year NYPD veteran with the Combat Cross in 2014 to acknowledge his bravery in arresting an armed teenager during a shootout in the Bronx in May 2012, while off-duty. Donnelly's attorney said that his client has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and sleeping disorders that stretch back to the 2012 shooting. (In a 2014 interview with prosecutors, Donnelly reportedly admitted that he had been an alcoholic for years, and that he broke a period of sobriety soon after the 2012 arrest that earned him his medal.)
Donnelly's victim reportedly balked at his lawyer's defense on Tuesday, accusing her alleged attacker of "grasping at straws." She recounted in court how Donnelly allegedly pounced on her bed in his underwear, beat her, and went for the fridge before fleeing. According to a police report from that night, Donnelly allegedly said to the woman, "Shhh, It's OK. Just put a shirt on," and then, "Sometimes I'm a good guy, but sometimes I'm a bad guy."
Donnelly has been stripped of his badge pending the outcome of the assault case. The Post reports that prosecutors are hiring their own doctors to evaluate his PTSD explanation.
