Chicago Cop Beats Up Petite Woman
Sometimes you see something that gets you so enraged you just have to vent. I could not believe the violent attack made by a burly and drunken off-duty Chicago police officer on a petite female bartender. She must be a tough cookie because the video shows her getting pushed around violently, punched and kicked. I was surprised to see her actually get up to run to the phone.
I was also surprised that the couple of males that you could see on the video didn’t step in. It sounds like they were screaming at the cop but they were obviously too afraid to hold him back. They watched as the beating went on.
Supposedly, the beating started because the bartender was doing her duty by refusing to serve the intoxicated cop more liquor. This enraged him and precipitated the beating. Maybe because he was drunk the blows weren’t as bad as they appeared on the video but the woman did go to the hospital with head contusions, sore back, etc.
The name of the bar is Jesse’s Shortstop Inn. The off-durty policeman is Anthony Abbatte. The 5′ 4" bartender is fearful of going out her door and mention was made on the news last night of threats being made.
Another thing that got me angry was that this policeman checked into a hospital so was not immediately arrested. Once he was arrested it was a misdemeanor assault. Seems like the publicity might have helped the charge to be upgraded to a felony. Thank goodness for those surveillance videos. This is one that could be put on one of those video shows showing crimes in action.
Abbatte has been relieved of his police duties (thank goodness) and the department is now trying to terminate his employment. This reminds me of a police officer that used to come into my friend’s bar downtown, get drunk and wave his gun around! I realize being a police officer is a very tough job but some of these guys just feel they are above the law.
I was personally arrested many years ago by an Orland Park officer that was later charged with sexual abuse of women he arrested. I guess I’m one of the lucky "early arrests" before he started actually molesting his victims that he stopped for traffic violations. I believe to this day he stopped me because I looked younger than I am. He said I made an illegal right hand turn when leaving a bowling alley parking lot. I did no such thing as I saw him right behind me. Believe me, I’d tell the truth if I did. He told me how his wife just left him and apologized for his "fat pants" that were falling off because he had lost weight since the divorce, yada, yada, and gave me a business card with his phone number on it! He didn’t start molesting for years after I was stopped (although he supposedly met his next wife during a traffic stop). That officer was later caught and fired and it was one of those cases where his female victims came out of the woodwork once the charges were filed.
These bad cops make it bad for the entire force. It just gives fuel to the perception that many men become cops because they’re bullies who love the power or they have low self esteem and need to feel powerful. It also makes a negative impact on charges of brutality in general levied against the Chicago police department.
I will be keeping my eye on this one and hope the media will, too. On a funny note, here is a comment quote from Fark.com that I had to laugh at (written by log_jammin), "…I would like to personally thank those brave men who helped that poor woman. I know that if their laser beam eyes hadn’t looked at him in such a sharp manner he wouldn’t have stopped as quickly as he did."
