As if the videotaped images of the burly man whaling on a petite female bartender weren't bad enough, we also have this ugly timeline to look at:
Feb. 19 -- As seen on screens around the world in the last several days, Karolina Obrycka is severely pummeled by a drunken patron at Jesse's Short Stop Inn, 5425 W. Belmont Ave. Police receive a single 911 emergency call at 9:29 p.m. and respond to the scene.
Feb. 20 -- Nothing happens.
Feb. 21 -- Obrycka and the owner of the bar file a complaint with the Chicago Police Department's Internal Affairs Division, alleging that the assailant was off-duty officer Anthony Abbate. That complaint includes the videotape of the incident that many of us have seen.
Feb. 22 -- The video is shown to official at the Chicago Police Department, according to CPD spokeswoman Monique Bond.
Feb. 23 -- The police share the videotape with two prosecutors from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, according to Bond. Bond said that all parties were in agreement at that time that the offense seen on tape was simple battery, a class A misdemeanor:720 ILCS 5/12‑3. A person commits battery if he intentionally or knowingly without legal justification and by any means, causes bodily harm to an individual or makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with an individual.
Why? To qualify as aggravated battery, a class 3 felony, [link|http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=072000050HArt%2E+12&ActID=1876&ChapAct=720%26nbsp%3BILCS%26nbsp%3B5%2F&ChapterID=53&ChapterName=CRIMINAL+OFFENSES&SectionID=60636&SeqStart=16500000&SeqEnd=23700000&ActName=Criminal+Code+of+1961%2E|the applicable law] states:720 ILCS 5/12‑4. In committing a battery, a person commits aggravated battery if he or she...is, or the person battered is, on or about a public way, public property or public place of accommodation or amusement.
Bond told our reporters for this morning's [link|http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070322bartender-beaten,1,3542619.story?coll=chi-news-hed|news story] "Thousands of cases a year occur when a simple battery under similar circumstances are not upgraded to aggravated battery when the offense occurs in public place of accommodation or amusement."
Spokesman John Gorman of the Cook County State's Attorneys office disputes Bond's version of events on this date. Gorman says that at the meeting Bond refers to, prosecutors did not express an opinion about the charges and indicated only that they were opening an investigation.
Also Feb. 23 -- Internal Affairs goes to arrest Abbate but is stymied because he has "checked himself into a medical facility," Bond said. She said that Police Dept. General Orders prevent officers from arresting patients who are in treatment facilities. *
Had he taken medical leave? "I don't know the details," Bond said.
Feb 24 - March 4 -- Neither police nor prosecutors will say what, if anything, occurred during this time window. Both ovver variations on the phrase, "the investigation was proceeding."
March 5 -- According to [link|http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070322bartender-beaten,1,3542619.story?coll=chi-news-hed|our story this morning] quoting Abbate's attorney, Abbate completes an in-patient substance-abuse rehab program.
March 14 -- Chicago Police arrest Abbate and charge him with simple battery. Bond says that Cook County prosecutors were alerted to this development. Gorman says no, they weren't.
March 20 (Tuesday) -- The Cook County State's Attorney's Office charges Abbate with aggravated battery.
March 21 (Wednesday) -- As this story makes worldwide news, Karolina Obrycka's attorney, Terry Ekl, says he turns over to prosecutors a secret tape recording made by the bar owner. In that recording, Ekl says, another bartender from Jesse's Short Stop Inn relays threats to the the owner that Ekl alleges come from Abbate and another man. Those threats are to use police powers to harass the bartender and his customers unless the charges against Abbate are dropped. States Attorney spokesman John Gorman says he cannot comment on this allegation or any other details in what he terms a "still ongoing investigation."
The time between attack and arrest is uncomfortably long, to say the least. If this had been Anthony Smith, private citizen, caught on videotape beating the crud out of Karolina Jones, off-duty police officer, does anyone seriously think an arrest wouldn't have been made that night or the next day? And that felony charges would have been filed even if Smith didn't know Jones was an officer?
Nothing in this timeline gives me confidence that charges would have been upgraded if the videotape hadn't been available and the threat of adverse publicity been significant.
The peek into the statute books reveals a hole in the battery laws that the General Assembly needs to patch: Special protections are afforded to many, many classes of people in those laws -- park district supervisors, Public Aid and Dept. of Children and Family Services caseworkers, bus drivers, prison guards, EMTs and so on. On-duty service personnel, particularly those at establishments that serve liquor, also deserve this special protection. They are called upon to make tough decisions and handle unruly patrons, and if we expect bartenders in the future to risk their safety by cutting off service to obviously drunk patrons, we must afford them an extra measure of legal protection.
"That's an interesting notion," said Gorman. "It's one we\ufffdll take into consideration in our legislative endeavors."
* I'm still trying to get the exact language of this general order and to figure out the sense behind it. Rehab asylum? Surely not!
[link|http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/03/justice_almost_.html|http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/03/justice_almost_.html]