UPDATE 6/23/09  - Anthony Abbate receives 2 year probation sentence.

We all need to laugh on occasion. It is good for us. Here is a real sidesplitter.

6-foot-1, 250 lb Chicago Police officer Anthony Abbate testified today that he was the victim when 5-foot-3, 115-pound bartender Karolina Obrycka pushed and pulled him trying to get him to leave the area behind the bar at Jesse's ShortStop Inn on February 19, 2007.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times,

Testifying in his own defense against charges he beat a petite female bartender, Chicago police Officer Anthony Abbate told a Cook County judge this afternoon that the woman threatened him and that he threw her to the ground, lunging at her with his arms and legs, only in an effort to “get her off of me.”

“She grabbed me and threw me against the wall,” the 250-pound suspended Chicago cop said of the 5-foot-3, 115-pound Karolina Obrycka, who is seen on the bar’s surveillance cameras pushing and pulling the burly cop in what she described Monday as an effort to get him to leave the area behind the bar at Jesse’s ShortStop Inn.

“I hit my head,” Abbate testified before his attorneys rested their case this afternoon in a case that became an Internet sensation because of the video. “I’m trying to get away from her.”

Abbate's attorney, Peter Hickey, said that Abbate was "tossed around...like a rag doll" by Obrycka. "She grabbed him (and) almost had him on the ground."     Here is a news broadcast with the video. See for yourself.




Abate was convicted today of aggravated battery.

(Editors note: Due to a power outage the following portion of this post was not entered until several hours after the original entry. The following is also a draft excerpt from a book I am working on concerning law enforcement issues.)

But there is more to this than the wild escapades of an intoxicated belligerent police officer.

Back on the day of the incident, immediately after Abbate left, a friend of his came in the bar and offered money to Obrycka if she would not prosecute. Police just might “find” some drugs in Obrycka’s car or the bar owner’s car if she didn’t keep quiet, Abbate’s friend allegedly said.  Obrycka declined the bribe, ignored the threat, and called the police.

Four uniformed officers arrived. One sat at the bar and ate pretzels while another one recorded license numbers off the jukebox and other machines in the bar. The bar is not allowed to operate the jukebox and other accessories unless they pay for city licenses to do so. Perhaps it was important for the officer to make sure the city was getting it’s cut.

Two of the four officers spoke with Obrycka. She told the officers there was a video of the beating and that the attacker’s first name was “Tony” and his last name was something like “Abbot or Abate.” She also told the officers that the attacker was a Chicago Police Officer. The officers completed their report and went back to their patrol cars. Meanwhile the bar manager arrived. He went out to the officers, now seated comfortably in their vehicles, and also told them the entire incident was recorded.

Go set up the video the cops said - we’ll come back in and view it.

So the manager went back inside and did as the cops told him. The manager waited, and waited, but no cops came back in. The manager went back outside and the cops were gone.

Do you think they were friends with Abbate like the person that tried to bribe and intimidate Obrycka? Maybe, maybe not, but the Code of Silence culture runs deep.

People say that blood is thicker than water; well, Blue Blood is thick too.

As it turns out the officers’ report only mentions that the attacker’s first name is “Tony” with no last name and not a word that he was a police officer. The officers also failed to mention there was a video of the attack.

So now the incident gets reported to the Chicago Police Departments Office of Professional Standards (OPS), and folks there question the responding officers. The officers deny they were ever told the attacker’s last name was anything similar to Abbate’s. They also deny being told he was a police officer.

Well gosh-darn and dag-nabbit, wouldn’t you know it but the bar’s pesky surveillance video was running when the victim was speaking with the responding officers; and it had audio too! It clearly indicates the officers were told the last name of the attacker and that he was a police officer. The Chicago Police Department OPS has sustained charges against the reporting officers on that basis. They had no choice but to do so. Too many people outside of the department had caught wind of the stink – and the video.

After the case was presented to OPS the Cook County State’s Attorney became involved.  A meeting took place where the video was reviewed.  It was agreed by all parties at the meeting that the State’s Attorney would make the charging decision on the case.  Without the knowledge of the State’s Attorney’s office, the Chicago Police filed a misdemeanor battery charge against Abbate and immediately released him on a recognizance bond – no cash required, he could walk away.  When the SAO learned what the police department had done they almost immediately filed felony charges.

As if all of that was not bad enough, reporters who were trying to cover the story and film Abbate, after he later made an appearance in court, were threatened with arrest. Chicago Police had blocked normally routinely available portions of the police department lobby and outdoor areas in an apparent effort to hide fellow officer Abbate. Reporters there were told to leave or be arrested.

So, were Abbate’s actions a fluke, a one time anomaly? I don’t know but according to news reports Abbate was one of 100 Chicago police officers who had been hired despite having previous drug and alcohol related offenses. Abbate’s history also included arrests for drag racing and driving on a suspended license. Abate had also been named as a defendant in a civil rights law suit several years before his attack on Obrycka.

What about the Code of Silence coming into play when police were called; was that a fluke, a one-time occurrence? It seems to me like the reported actions and inactions of the responding officers flowed pretty easily, kind of like a habit.

When officers do good, on-duty or off, the world is happy. Headlines are positive, the department looks good, speeches are made and “atta-boys” are handed out. But when cops screw up the world is not happy and admin doesn’t like the headlines. That is when and why the Code of Silence gets activated. The true character test for an agency and its officers is when misconduct occurs (and it definitely will occur) not when everything is hunk-dory.