Police 'code of silence' verdict will stand.
Chicago, IL - A woman who challenged a police code of silence in Chicago cannot vacate the judgment to settle privately with the city and avoid precedent, a federal judge ruled.
Anthony Abbate Jr., an off-duty Chicago police officer, brutally attacked Karolina Obrycka in 2007, while she was bartending at Jesse's Shortstop Inn.
After Abbate drank heavily all night, repeatedly flexed his biceps and yelled "Chicago Police Department," Obrycka refused to serve Abbate more alcohol. Abbate then went behind the bar and began punching and kicking her, allegedly telling Obrycka that "nobody tells me what to do."
Video cameras in the bar caught the entire altercation.
Police who responded to Obrycka's 911 call wrote up a police report that omitted several facts, including the existence of the tape or the fact that Abbate was a cop.
Obrycka said Abbate later tried to intimidate her into giving him the videotape, implying that, otherwise, there would be problems for the bar and its employees. He allegedly said that there would be no case against him without the tape.
A friend of Abbate's who worked for the city then went to the bar and offered to pay Obrycka's medical bills if she did not press charges. Chicago conceded this action was an attempted bribe.
In a civil complaint against Abbate and the Chicago, Obrycka claimed that city policies, through the conduct of the police officers who allegedly impeded the investigation of her battery, violated due process. http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/12/24/53404.htm
Court Ruling: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/12/24/obrycka.pdf