An Oak Lawn police officer charged with punching a teenager is now set to face a Cook County judge who previously acquitted a group of Chicago cops accused of covering up the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Officer Patrick O’Donnell on Wednesday opted for a bench trial before Judge Domenica Stephenson that’s expected to start Dec. 19 and last just a day.
In 2019, Stephenson handed down a not guilty verdict in the trial of three Chicago police officers accused of lying to protect Jason Van Dyke, the officer who shot McDonald 16 times. O’Donnell’s attorney, former prosecutor James McKay, represented one of the cops who was acquitted in that case.
O’Donnell was indicted last year on felony counts of battery and official misconduct for allegedly repeatedly punching 17-year-old Hadi Abuatelah in the head after Abuatelah ran from a traffic stop in July 2022.
The case hinges on cellphone camera footage that shows O’Donnell striking Abuatelah as the teen is held down by another officer.
Oak Lawn Police Chief Daniel Vittorio, who sat a few rows behind O’Donnell in the courtroom gallery Wednesday, has said Abuatelah was reaching for a bag that was holding a handgun. The teen was charged in juvenile court and has since pleaded guilty to weapons charges.
In the days after video of Abuatelah’s arrest began circulating online, protesters converged on the police station in south suburban Oak Lawn, which has a large Muslim population.
Dozens of supporters greeted Abuatelah as he entered the juvenile court on crutches after spending six days hospitalized. He had suffered a broken nose and fractures to his pelvis and skull, according to a lawsuit filed against the village.
McKay, O’Donnell’s seasoned defense attorney, often puts his prosecutorial skills to work against alleged victims, especially when his clients are law enforcement officials.
In another bench trial in 2018, McKay’s client, Keli McGrath, a Chicago police dispatcher, was acquitted in the road rage shooting of an 18-year-old woman. McKay said the teen had thrown McGrath to the ground after McGrath tried to block her car and that McGrath feared for her life.
McKay also won acquittal in this year’s bench trial of Michael Vitellaro, a Chicago police sergeant charged with pinning a 14-year-old boy who Vitellaro believed had stolen his son’s bike. Lawyers for the teen’s family accused McKay of smearing the honor student’s reputation.
In O’Donnell’s case, McKay asked permission to introduce evidence that Abuatelah was involved in a fight with a classmate and was disrespectful to a teacher who caught the teen “goofing off” in a school bathroom.
McKay already got permission to raise Abuatelah’s arrest last December as one of several teens involved in an alleged robbery at an Orland Hills health club.