Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Drunk CPD cop avoids jail

If you want to read something that will really make your blood boil, first read this morning's Associated Press (AP) article in the Northwest Herald on Page 6C (well back in the paper; right?) about the drunk Chicago cop who beat a woman bartender in Chicago on February 19, 2007. But don't stop there...

Then go to the Chicago Tribune and read the online article at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-abbate-24-jun24,0,5965992.story

The Trib's article will give you the big picture from the victim's perspective, which the AP article does not. The victim, described elsewhere as about one-half the cop's 250 lb. weight, had ordered the cop out from behind the bar, where he had gone when she refused to continue serving him. He knocked her down and kicked and punched her. A video on the Trib's website shows the cop slamming a customer into a wall and throwing him down on the same day that he later attacked the bartender.

And the judge's verdict and sentence? Guilty of aggravated battery and a sentence of two years', home curfew and 130 hours of community service. No jail? No jail. Of course, the cop had claimed self-defense. Probably kept a straight face, too.

Says the victim in the Trib article, "I have a fear of the police." Well, duh...

Maybe Judge Fleming ought to go drinking with Abbate some day.

No comments: