In footage posted to YouTube, an officer can be seen spraying what is thought to be pepper spray in the face of several young female activists, who are already penned in behind a barrier.
Deputy Inspector Raymond Bologna - named by the Times - is seen in another video coming up behind a groups of people in the area of the protests and dousing them with pepper spray.
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Commissioner of the New York Police Department, Raymond W. Kelly, said its Internal Affairs Bureau would look at the officer's conduct, while he also criticized protesters for 'tumultuous conduct', the Times reported.
The office of the Manhattan district attorney has also opened an investigation, the paper reports.
According to British newspaper the Guardian, the officer is the subject of a pending legal action over his conduct at another Bush-era protest.
Online activist group Anonymous, involved in the organisation of the protests, claimed responsibility for the initial publication of the accused officer's name.
CELEBRITY SUPPORT
The protest is now in its second week, with hundreds of young activists protesting the Wall Street bailout and corporate influence in US politics, receiving support from celebrities including actor Susan Sarandon and filmmaker Michael Moore.
"I am so impressed by what I see here. You have done something very important and very historic," Moore said to cheers at the weekend.
Earlier in the week, demonstrators marched from their camp at Zuccotti Park, in the heart of Manhattan's financial district, to the New York Stock Exchange. Banging drums and blowing whistles, they chanted: "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out:, AFP reported. According to the Guardian, up to 5000 people marched.
All along their route they were accompanied by dozens of police, including senior commanders. There were no arrests.
The protest dubbed Occupy Wall Street kicked off Sept 17, targeting corporate greed and political influence, the government bailouts for banks during the 2008 financial crisis, capital punishment, and a litany of other grievances.
The huge crowds organisers hoped for never materialised, but a core of between 200 and 300 protesters have remained camped in Zuccotti Park ever since.
It is one of the longest street protests in New York in recent memory and an especially unusual event in lower Manhattan, among the most heavily policed neighbourhoods in the world.
Media outlets had been criticised by protesters for not covering the events, but the alleged pepper spraying of the women put an end to this; even conservative Fox News has been reporting from the scene.
"Everyone is pretty upset by the violence, but it did help us. It got the word out," said one protester, Steve Smith, 24. "It brought people to us, brought donations to us."
One of the more active participants in this officially leaderless protest, Ryan Hoffman, 26, said: "If anything, I think what happened on Saturday made us stronger."
