Trial starts for officer in bartender beating

A former bartender says the alleged attack by a Chicago police officer left her shocked and achy and that when she went to touch her hair afterward, tufts fell out.

Karolina Obrycka identified Anthony Abbate Monday as the man who attacked her in February 2007 at the bar where she worked. Abbate faces aggravated battery and official misconduct charges.

During opening statements, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney LuAnn Snow said Abbate shoved Obrycka into a mirrored wall and threw her to the ground when she refused to serve him more drinks.

Video from a tavern security camera shows a man punching, kicking and throwing the bartender.

But defense attorney Peter Hickey painted Obrycka as the aggressor, saying she grabbed the burly officer and "tossed him around ... like a rag doll."