Jurors will get to hear a Chicago bartender's claim that police officers used a "code of silence" to protect the off-duty former officer convicted of beating her.
Judge Amy St. Eve ruled Thursday that a federal jury can consider Karolina Obrycka's argument in a civil lawsuit filed against former Officer Anthony Abbate and the city of Chicago, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Judge St. Eve pointed to evidence suggesting there was a code of silence among police after the incident, noting responding officers didn’t identify Abbate as a police officer in initial reports, the Sun-Times reported.
The incident happened in 2007 at Jesse's Short Stop Inn on Chicago's Northwest Side. Abbate, who was off-duty at the time, was seen on tape going behind the bar and punching and kicking Obrycka.
In 2009, Abbate was convicted of pummeling the female bartender and sentenced to two years probation and anger management classes for the videotaped attack.
He was since fired from the police department.
