Hero

Shaker Karyn reminded me of a story about which I've been meaning to post. Mr. Shakes and I saw this on the local news the other night and were howling with shock and outrage. The below video is of Anthony Abbate, a 250-pound off-duty Chicago police officer, beating the shit out of Karolina Obrycka, a 115-pound bartender at Jesse's Shortstop Inn. Obrycka, you see, refused to continue to serve the already-drunk Abbate, so he went haywire.

But here's the really astounding part: the unbelievably tough Karolina, who suffered bruises to her head, neck, back, and lower body, not only keeps getting back up as this wankstain knocks her all over the place; she also steps in (at 0:26) and tries to stop Abbate from trying to attack another patron with a chair—the guy on the left of the screen—who then doesn't even try to intervene on her behalf, instead telling Abbate to "stop it," and calling someone on his cell. Sadly, it doesn't even appear to have been 911, as news reports mention the time of the emergency call, but do not say it was captured on the video or made by one of the "bystanders," even as questions have been raised about who that bystander was and whom he was calling. (One hopes he is not the officer now "suspected of helping to threaten and bribe Obrycka to keep silent about the beating," before the video was made public.)

In any case, the guys in this video are shameful—but Karolina Obrycka is a hero for standing up to one jerk and defending another, even though he wasn't worth it. Funny how the comments thread about heroes Hannah Bridgeman-Oxley and Karri Cormican, also employees of a bar, turned into a discussion of "getting involved" just days ago.