Anthony Abbate Trial: Cop Charged In Bartender Beating Heads To Court (WATCH SURVEILLANCE VIDEO)
CHICAGO (AP) -- A hulking Chicago police officer who bragged about the size of his muscles got tossed around "like a rag doll" by a female bartender half his size during a videotaped altercation for which he faces battery charges, his defense attorney said as the trial opened.
Anthony Abbate, 40, faces one count of aggravated battery and two counts of official misconduct for the February 2007 incident. Prosecutors dropped several other charges before the trial began Monday, including intimidation, conspiracy and communicating with a witness.
Video footage from a tavern security camera shows a man thought to be Abbate punching, kicking and throwing a bartender to the floor. But defense attorney Peter Hickey said it was the bartender, 125-pound Karolina Obrycka, who was the aggressor.
(SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH THE VIDEO)
"She grabbed him and she tossed him around ... like a rag doll," Hickey said. "She grabbed him (and) almost had him on the ground."
Abbate waived his right to a jury trial, opting instead to have his case heard by Cook County Circuit Judge John Fleming.
Abbate shoved the now 26-year-old Obrycka into a mirrored wall and pulled her by the hair after she took away his drink and removed him from behind the bar, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney LuAnn Snow said during opening statements.
"Tony Abbate committed an unprovoked and merciless attack," Snow said. "She did nothing to deserve this, nothing."
Hickey disputed the notion that Obrycka was a defenseless victim. On cross-examination, he suggested Abbate didn't become violent until Obrycka pushed him from behind the bar and into a wall, causing him to hit his head. And he said she could have called police sooner to prevent the attack.
"If you didn't grab Tony Abbate, you could've grabbed the phone," he said.
Obrycka, the trial's first witness, walked Fleming through the incident as Snow played segments of the security video.
She testified that Abbate spent much of the night before the alleged attack bragging about the size of his muscles and at one point hit another patron. The beating and kicking left her shocked and achy, she said.
"My hair was coming out, the whole back of my head was hurting," she said.
Hickey alleged that Obrycka, who is suing Abbate and the city of Chicago, is after a big payoff.
"This is all about money," he said.
Hickey also tried to minimize the remaining official misconduct charges, saying Abbate never showed his badge or identified himself as a police officer.
Abbate has been "suspended pending separation" and relieved of his duties and pay, said Chicago police spokesman Roderick Drew. Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis has said he wants Abbate fired, but for the department's reputation, the damage has already been done.
The footage of the beating has circulated widely online and replayed incessantly on newscasts as another high-profile example of misconduct by Chicago police officers.
In a separate videotaped attack, several other off-duty officers were charged and later acquitted of beating a group of businessmen at a bar. Also, several officers have since been charged in fatal drunk driving accidents.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Watch the security camera footage of the beating:
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First Posted: 06- 1-09 09:32 AM | Updated: 06- 1-09 06:21 PM