Oak Lawn officer indicted for punching teen during arrest appears in court
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Oak Lawn police officer appeared in court Wednesday for arraignment on charges of aggravated battery and official misconduct.
He's charged for the July 2022 beating of a 17-year-old boy after a traffic stop. The arrest was captured on video.
A grand jury indicted fficer Patrick O'Donnell, 32, for his role in the violent arrest of Hadi Abuatelah.
On July 27 around 6 p.m., O'Donnell, who has served as a member of the Oak Lawn Police Department since 2014, conducted the stop after a burnt cannabis smell came from the vehicle.
Following a search of the vehicle, Abuatelah, who was a backseat passenger, was asked to exit. As O'Donnell began to search the teen, he took off on foot.
Two other officers assisted in the arrest of the teen who was taken to the ground, in the 9500 block of South McVicker Avenue. During this time, O'Donnell began striking the teen in the face with a closed right fist while holding his head and hair with his left hand.
In court, prosecutors said Officer O'Donnell "punched toward [Abuatelah's] head and face more than 10 times."
Officers say Abuatelah tried to run with a crossbody bag and reached for a gun when he was pinned to the ground.
A loaded .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol with three live rounds of ammunition was recovered from the bag the teen had across his upper body.
He was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was treated for a broken pelvis and other severe injuries as a result of the beating.
"If officers are trained that while two other adults are restraining a child to repeatedly punch them in the face, you grab their hair, and repeatedly punch them in the face, and you break their nose, and you fracture their pelvis, and you cause internal bleeding in their brain - what is wrong with policing in this state?" said Muhammad Sankari, lead organizer for the Arab American Action Network.
Abuatelah is charged with unlawful use of a weapon, resisting arrest, and possession of cannabis.
O'Donnell pleaded not guilty and was ordered to pay a $75,000 I-bond.
As CBS 2's Noel Brennan reported, O'Donnell was surrounded by a crowd of Oak Lawn police officers as he came to court, and as he left. Dozens of officers followed O'Donnell into the courtroom at Chicago's George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building for support – to the point where there was not enough space to fit them all in.
O'Donnell is scheduled to appear back in court on April 6.
Organizers want the two other officers involved in the incident with Abuatelah arrested and charged as well.
