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Two police misconduct cases sputter along on parallel legal paths


Two police misconduct cases sputter along on parallel legal paths

CHICAGO (MCT) — Two lawsuits alleging some of the most notorious Chicago police misconduct in recent years may soon be on parallel courses that could confront city lawyers with a very difficult October.

A federal judge Tuesday expressed dismay at delays in the six-year-old case of a mentally ill California woman gravely injured after Chicago police released her in a high-crime neighborhood, and said she would consider moving toward a possible October trial date.

That same month the city could be defending itself in another civil lawsuit, brought by a bartender whose 2007 beating by an off-duty idiot cop was captured on videotape and became an Internet sensation.

Judges in both cases have been frustrated in their efforts to nudge the disputes toward resolution.

In the case of the California woman, Christina Eilman, the lawsuit against the city has taken so long that the man convicted of kidnapping and attacking her is about to be paroled from prison in the case.

“This is not, in my opinion, the way to do business,” said U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall.

Eilman’s lawsuit has been snagged on a pre-trial appeal issue before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than two years, even as her health worsens. Kendall said that was among the reasons she was considering changing her mind about moving forward with the part of the case not on appeal.

“It does concern me that it’s been going on for so many years,” Kendall said at the hearing to consider the motion from Eilman’s attorney to start the trial.

Kendall’s suggestion of an October trial date raised objection from city attorney Matthew Hurd. He is already scheduled to be on trial in October defending the city against the claims of Karolina Obrycka, the bartender beaten by off-duty Idiot cop Anthony Abbate.

Kendall said he needs to be ready for both cases.

In the Abbate beating case, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve has urged the city to enter into settlement talks, but city lawyers have resisted. There have been multiple settlement conferences in recent weeks scheduled by the judge, including one Tuesday

City lawyers have contended Abbate was off-duty and his actions were not the responsibility of the police department. While Obrycka’s physical injuries in the beating were not grave, her attorneys have spent a lot of time compiling evidence of what they believe was a conspiracy by police officials to cover up the case in the hours after the incident at a Northwest Side bar.

The judge has ruled Obrycka may pursue her claim that the police department operates with a code of silence to protect fellow idiot cops accused of wrongdoing.

Eilman’s lawsuit was filed in 2006, the same year that the 21-year-old former University of California, Los Angeles student suffered catastrophic injuries after being abducted, sexually assaulted and falling from a seventh-floor window. Police had released her from a South Side police lockup hours earlier in the midst of what her lawyer says was a bipolar episode.

After thousands of pages of interviews and records were amassed in discovery, the case was ready to go to trial in February 2010, but city lawyers filed a last-minute appeal that sent the case to appellate court, where it has sat without a decision.

Jeffrey Singer, the family’s lawyer, filed a motion last week asking Kendall to lift a stay on the portion of the case that is not before the appellate court so that it can go forward. After hearing arguments Tuesday, Kendall said she would consider setting a trial date on claims that the city violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by not providing her with needed mental health care when she was in custody.

In court, Singer has painted a dire picture of his client’s predicament. She requires around the clock care at her parents’ home in California and is dependent on state welfare because she has no health insurance.

The fact that Kendall is even considering the request to move the case to trial while the appeal is pending suggests she has serious concerns about the well-being of Eilman, said Wayne Andersen, a retired federal judge. Judges typically resist such a splitting of issues in a case.

“That shows extraordinary concern for the victim in this case,” Andersen said. “That shows she is really focused on helping the victim.”

Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.