Karolina Obrycka finally received justice when Cook County Circuit court convicted Chicago police officer, Anthony Abbate for beating a female bartender. Most readers will remember the infamous incident where Abbate was captured on the videotape while mercilessly kicking and punching Obrycka in 2007. At that point of time Abbate was off duty and Obrycka was a bartender at a Northwest Side tavern. The case assumed such popularity because the video which had captured all the action was widely circulated amongst the masses.

During the case proceedings the Cook County Circuit Judge, John J. Fleming, refused to recognize Abbate’s claims that he had acted in “self-defense.” Fleming went on to say that Obrycka had “tried to stop him, and she used reasonable force…His own momentum, with a little help from Karolina Obrycka, caused the fall. But that did not justify his actions afterward, which were directly out of proportion.” The judge’s comment is quite understandable considering the fact that Obrycka is just 5 foot 3 and 125 pounds while Abbate stands tall at 6 foot 1 and weighs 250 pounds. Moreover, Abbate had gone behind the bar without any permission.

The video was continuously played during the court proceedings to bring light to the actual situation. The tape shows how Abbate in a drunken state refused to go out from the bar when Obrycka asks him to leave. Then Obrycka pushed him and he fell, crashing back into the bar. Soon Abbate slammed Obrycka against the bar and then took full swings at her head. Abbate confessed that he did not feel any threat from Obrycka but he beat her up and “tossed her like a garbage can.”