Brawling Chicago Cop Pleads Not Guilty to Beating Bartender

A 12-year veteran of the Chicago police force has pleaded not guilty to the charge of aggravated battery against a female bartender half his size in a Chicago pub, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Anthony Abbate, 38, received his fifteen minutes of infamy when a video surveillance tape caught him allegedly beating up the woman bartender after she refused to serve him another drink at Jesse's Shortstop Inn on February 19th. The video, shown to a shocked nationwide audience, depicts the six foot one inch 250 pound Abbate brawling with the five foot four inch 115 lb Karoline Obrycka.

Initially Abbate was only charged with a misdemeanor until the tape was made public. He was later indicted by a grand jury on other charges including official misconduct, intimidation, conspiracy and communicating with a witness. The prosecutor upgraded his charge to a felony and he was arrested Tuesday of this week. In all, the veteran officer plead not guilty to all fifteen counts against him.

According to the indictment, a woman told the manager of the bar that Abbate or other officers would plant illegal drugs on bar employees or customers and arrest customers for drunken driving if the videotape wasn't suppressed. And according to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney David Navarro, another person attempted to bribe Obrycka for her silence.

Peter Hickey, Abbate's attorney, had this comment: "He's pleading not guilty because he is not guilty. And we expect at the end, the conclusion of the trial, that that's what the outcome will be." He then admitted that he was the only person on the face of the planet that hadn't yet seen his client's video debut.

Amazingly Abbate wasn't arrested until nearly a month after the incident due to the fact that he'd checked himself into a substance abuse center where his fellow cops conveniently couldn't locate him. He hasn't yet been fired from the department, but he is on unpaid leave. A judge ordered him to surrender his weapons but it's uncertain if that ruling means he must cut off his hands.