- Five years after a video of Karolina Obrycka being beaten by off-duty cop Anthony Abbate went viral, a federal jury ruled it’s time for the city and Abbate to pay up.
Jurors Tuesday night awarded the bartender $850,000 in her case against the City of Chicago and the disgraced former cop over the 2007 bar beating caught on security camera.
The verdict against the city and Abbate came at the end of a three week trial in which attorneys for Obrycka alleged the Chicago Police Department’s had a code of silence and a culture of failing to properly investigate and discipline officers who used excessive force.
When asked outside the courtoom where the $850,000 will come from, Abbate responded with a joke.
“I think I got a Visa card in my wallet,” Abbate quipped. In practice the City will have to pay the entire amount, Obrycka’s attorneys expect.
Still an asshole, all the way until the end, eh Tony?
Of course, this means the lawyer can bill Chicago for their time, which we imagine will run into the millions of dollars. And then there's this problem:
- In order to prevail, Obrycka’s legal team had to prove not just that the code of silence existed, but that it was a cause of Abbate’s attack.
Get ready for a shitload of "training" and speeches, maybe even some sort of outside "oversight" since it has now been proven in a Court of Law that a "code of silence" exists and is perpetrated by the Department.
And then there's the unfinished business of the "fall girl:"
- He added that the actions of Deb Kirby, who ran the police departments internal affairs division at the time of the beating, were “reprehensible.”
“If it was up to me, I’d fire her today,” he said.
Hope that resume is up to date Deb.