Outrage follows probation sentence as beaten bartender left fearful
CHICAGO (WBBM/CBS) ― The bartender who was brutally beaten by Chicago Police Officer Anthony Abbate now says she's afraid of retaliation by police.
At the same time, a woman’s group is angered by the light sentence meted out yesterday against Abbate.
Police officer Anthony Abbate was given two years probation for beating the bartender who was less than half his size.
Abbate was drunk and off-duty at the time. Michelle Staeger of the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for Women says the sentence is unacceptable and that NOW will work to see that Cook County Criminal Court Judge John Fleming is not re-elected to the bench. Staeger says "this judgment shows that he is incompetent" and that "he is sending a very serious message about how we treat violence against women in the city of Chicago."
Chicago NOW also says the Chicago Police Board should fire Anthony Abbate when it meets in a couple of weeks.
On Tuesday, Fleming sentenced Abbate to two years probation and anger management classes. He also imposed a home curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and ordered Abbate to perform 130 hours of community service.
The bartender, Karolina Obrycka, had refused to serve Abbate any more drinks, when he came behind the bar and started brutally beating her as she lay helpless on the floor. Obrycka weighs 125 pounds, while Abbate weighs 250.
The attack was captured on the bar's video surveillance system, and the video was seen around the world.
Obrycka told the Chicago Tribune after the sentencing that she is afraid police will target her for harassment. She told the newspaper that she worries when she is out with her husband and child, she will be pulled over by officers who recognize her and are friends of Abbate's.
"I have a fear of the police. I know they don't want to hurt me, but I have a fear," she told the Tribune.
Obrycka also told the paper she hasn't worked as a bartender since the incident, out of fear of another attack.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley also spoke to Obrycka following the sentencing hearing.
"I'm disappointed he didn't apologize," said Karolina Obrycka.
Abbate was found guilty of aggravated battery by Judge Fleming in connection with the February 2007 attack. The 250-pound Abbate's attack on 125-pound bartender Karolina Obrycka was captured by the bar's security camera and the video of the incident was shown around the world.
Obrycka wanted Abbate to say he's sorry. And her attorney wanted Abbate behind bars.
"I think the man should have done some jail time," said Obrycka's attorney Terry Ekl.
Instead, Abbate's lawyers were argued for a mistrial, insisting Abbate acted in self-defense after Obrycka tried to remove him from behind the bar.
Hearing that was enough to make Obrycka sick, forcing her to leave the courtroom.
"I started to feel shaky and sweaty and just felt very weak so I left, I left outside," Obrycka said.
Judge Fleming refused to reverse his guilty verdict, telling Abbate, "Drunk and stupid is no way to live your life." But he didn't proceed to throw the book at Abbate.
"If I believed sentencing Anthony Abbate to prison would stop people from getting drunk and hitting people, I'd give him the maximum sentence," Fleming said at the hearing. But the judge said he was constrained by the law in punishing Abbate.
Despite nearly universal outrage, which began in the courtroom and continued in an avalanche of e-mails we got, the law actually supports what the judge did; in fact even charging Abbate with a felony rather than a misdemeanor might have been a stretch.
Abbate is suspended without pay. And the felony conviction means he will never be allowed to carry a gun. Police Superintendent Jody Weis repeated today he wants Abbate fired.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2009 by CBS 2. WBBM contributed to this report.
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