Cops: TV camera damaged outside clerk's home

A 41-year-old Bellmore man was arrested Monday, charged with criminal mischief after he intentionally damaged a video camera being operated by a television cameraman outside the home of embattled Hempstead Town Clerk Mark A. Bonilla, police said.

The incident occurred at 12:20 p.m. Monday on Briggs Street in Bellmore.

Police said Trapani pushed the 55-year-old cameraman, who was working for WABC-TV, then "intentionally damaged" his video camera.

Police said the incident occurred in front of 525 Briggs St., Bonilla's residence. No one was injured, police said.

Bonilla has been under fire, Town Supervisor Kate Murray calling for his resignation, amid allegations he tried to obtain "intimate and personal photographs" of a female subordinate who had accused him of sexual harassment. Those accusations were detailed in a criminal complaint against Bonilla, 50, who Saturday pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanor charges -- official misconduct, second-degree attempted coercion and petty larceny -- related to those allegations.