Chicago Officer Needs to Be Removed From Police Department
He wanted one more drink.
And when Karolina the bartender refused, the off-duty Chicago cop punched and kicked the 115-pound woman in a sickening display of violence caught on videotape, prosecutors say.
"Nobody tells me what to do," the 25-year-old bartender recalled Officer Anthony G. Abbate telling her before the attack at the bar. Video of the vicious beating was played on newscasts across the nation Wednesday as Abbate, 38, dressed in an orange Bears sweat shirt, appeared in court on an aggravated battery charge.
Abbate -- the son of a retired Chicago cop -- also is suspected of trying to bribe and threaten Karolina to keep her quiet, sources said. A friend of Abbate allegedly warned the owner of Jesse's that police might find drugs in his car and Karolina's car if they spoke to authorities about the beating, sources said.
Another individual came in moments after the attack and attempted to offer the victim money in order for her not to prosecute the defendant.
Still, Karolina reported the crime to police two days after the attack, authorities said.
Abbate was not arrested until March 14 -- almost a month after the attack -- because he checked in to a substance abuse program at Resurrection Medical Center and police did not have access to him, sources said. He was charged with misdemeanor battery and released.
Tuesday, prosecutors upgraded the charge to a felony and arrested Abbate at his Northwest Side home. Internal Affairs investigators are looking into whether officers improperly failed to handcuff Abbate during his arrest, sources said.
Prosecutors urged Judge Raymond Myles to set bond at no less than $100,000 because of the "savage nature of the attack," but the judge ordered Abbate held in lieu of $70,000 bail and ordered him to surrender his guns. Abbate, a 12-year veteran in the Foster District, was freed after posting 10 percent.
By the way the Cop ,Abbate is 6-foot-1 and 250 pounds. Karolina is 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds.
Other men in the bar watched passively as Abbate kicked Karolina, grabbed her hair, slammed her against the bar, threw her on the floor and punched her repeatedly as she tried to get up, the videotape shows. One man appeared to make a cell phone call.
Karolina suffered bruises on her arms, shoulders, legs and head. She is suffering headaches and nausea because of her injuries, said Ekl, who plans to file a lawsuit in the next few weeks.
As patrons watched the video on TV news of Abbate's arrest, they fell silent, and one exclaimed, "I can't believe this. It happened right here!"
