A Cook County judge today found Chicago Police officer Anthony Abbate guilty of aggravated battery for his 2007 attack on a female bartender, saying that even if the woman pushed and shoved Abbate to get him to leave a restricted area, "that did not justify his actions afterward, which were completely out of proportion."
Earlier in the day, Judge John J. Fleming, presiding over the bench trial, acquitted Abbate of two lesser charges of official misconduct.
Suspended Chicago police officer Anthony Abbate walks out of the Cook County Courthouse after he was found guilty of aggravated battery. (Tribune / Abel Uribe)
Fleming said the bartender, Karolina Obrycka, had a right as an employee of the bar to use force to prevent Abbate from trespassing behind the bar, and Fleming found that she did not use excessive force. He noted that even if Abbate was accustomed to other bartenders allowing him to go behind the bar, Obrycka had the authority to deny him access.
Fleming rejected the closing argument of defense attorney Peter Hickey, who tried to convince the judge that Obrycka used excessive force, throwing Abbate--who is more than twice her size--into a wall where he hit his head. Hickey argued that Abbate acted in self defense when he threw the woman into a wall and then to the floor.
Hickey admitted that his client may be guilty under a different theory of aggravated battery -- one which would have required prosecutors to prove that Abbate touched Obrycka in an insulting or provoking manner -- but said prosecutors chose instead to charge him under the theory that he caused bodily harm, a decision he called a mistake.
Assistant State's Atty. Frank Marek ridiculed Abbate's assertion of self-defense, saying that "even the defendant has to admit he was not in physical danger at any time when he punched and kicked Karolina."
He said that for Fleming to acquit the officer, the judge would have to concoct what Marek termed the "Anthony Abbate exception."
Marek said that exception would be, "Anybody who punches and kicks a young bartender in a public place is guilty of aggravated battery except Anthony Abbate ... Who does he think he is?"
Roderick Drew, spokesman for Chicago police, said Abbate is still suspended without pay and the department is seeking to fire him. The Chicago Police Board, which makes the final decision, has a hearing for Abbate scheduled in July.
Abbate testified in his own defense today that he felt threatened by the bartender who struggled with him after he walked behind the bar at a Northwest Side tavern.
Under questioning from his attorney, Abbate said that when he stepped behind the bar, he was simply trying to go from one end of the bar to the other to sit with a longtime friend. But Obrycka grabbed him by the clothes, pushing and shoving him until he lost his balance and fell, striking his head against a bar shelf, he said.
"What went through your mind when that happened?" Hickey asked.
"That I was receiving an injury due to someone throwing me," Abbate answered.
"And what was your reaction?" Hickey asked.
"Not very likeable, very upset," Abbate said. "I didn't want to receive another injury."
At that point, he said he threw her off him into the bar and then to the ground.
Under cross-examination, Abbate testified that he knew Obrycka had told him earlier not to go behind the bar but that he didn't care what she said even though he knew he could simply have walked to his friend without going behind the bar.
Abbate, who is listed at 6 foot 1 inches tall and admitted he may have weighed more than 250 pounds at the time of the incident, said he was drunk at the time and felt threatened by Obrycka, who is 5 foot 3 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds.
"You felt you were in physical danger from Karolina Obrycka?" asked Assistant State's Atty. Lu Ann Snow, her questions tinged with sarcasm.
"Yes, when she threw me against the wall and I hit my head," Abbate huffed.
But he admitted that he felt in no danger when he kicked and punched her on the ground or when he tossed a garbage can as he exited the bar.
"Were you in any danger from the garbage can?" Snow asked.
"No," the officer said.
In a second round of questioning, Hickey tried to rehabilitate his client's testimony.
"Did you feel in danger when she grabbed you from behind, body slammed you up against the wall and nearly took you to the floor?" Hickey asked.
"Yes," Abbate said.
"Were you going to stand there and let her hurt you some more?"
"No," Abbate replied.
Hickey argued that the bartender never knew he was an officer because Abbate never announced he was a police officer or flashed his badge. Hickey said as a result Abbate did not misuse his authority.
He said that while he may have violated police department policy about off duty conduct, that did not constitute a felony.
But prosecutors said police officers are held to a higher standard, so when they commit crimes they are automatically guilty of official misconduct.
Fleming said that under the prosecutors' reasoning, any off-duty officer on a cell phone in violation of the city's ordinance could be charged with felony official misconduct.
The incident, which was caught on a security videotape, took place Feb. 19, 2007, at Jesse's Short Stop Inn on the Northwest Side.