CHICAGO — Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped official misconduct charges and filed felony charges against an Oak Lawn police officer who was seen in a viral video punching a 17-year-old boy in the head during a July 2022 arrest.
In a statement, the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office said: “After a thorough investigation, we have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to meet our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt to move forward with the prosecution of this case.”
But documents obtained by CWBChicago show that prosecutors rushed to secure a grand jury indictment against Officer Patrick O’Donnell just one day before the Illinois State Police unit investigating the use of violence by the officer, would conduct a comprehensive review of the investigation. determine if the desk supported charging.
In one report, an ISP researcher wrote that “there is no discussion [an] research with [ISP’s Public Integrity Task Force] before an officer was charged has never happened in the past 20 years of PITF investigations.”
The arrest and video
On July 27, 2022, Hadi Abu-Atelah, then 17 years old, ran away when Oak Lawn police stopped a car he was driving. Officers chased Abu-Atelah, who was carrying a crossbody bag, and eventually arrested him in a car. street.
Police dashcam video and a phone recording from a witness showed O’Donnell punching Abu-Atelah repeatedly as the boy was pinned to the ground. Authorities said the attacks were necessary because Abu-Atelah refused to release the shoulder bag, which contained a firearm.
The research
Two days after the incident, when Oak Lawn’s police chief decided not to ask the ISP task force to investigate the department’s handling of the arrest, Risa Lanier, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s top assistant, sent Kim Foxx, a letter in which he activated the PITF investigation. This is evident from a research report by the ISP.
PITF’s investigation ended nearly six months later, on Jan. 16, 2023, and state police turned over the entire file and supporting documentation to LEAD, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office’s Law Enforcement Accountability Division (LEAD), according to a second ISP report. .
Charging decision
On Feb. 9, the prosecutor’s office asked PITF to file a complaint and charge O’Donnell by Feb. 16, according to a memo from ISP Asst. Deputy Director Matt Gainer wrote a letter to his supervisor. Prosecutors “did not provide a reason why there was a timeline for charges,” Gainer said.
Instead of filing charges, PITF requested a meeting with prosecutors to discuss the case, as no interagency discussions had taken place since investigators turned over their files on Jan. 16, the memo said.
“Don’t discuss [an] investigation with PITF before an officer is charged has never happened in the past 20 years of PITF investigations,” Gainer said in the memo. Gainer explained that he told LEAD that “ISP was not against charging fees” but “wanted to conduct a proper case review.”
Gainer said he told the District Attorney’s Office that he wanted to wait until after the case review on Feb. 15 to “ensure that the investigation was completed and that we as an agency agreed with the proposed charges.”
Also on February 9, Gainer instructed investigators not to file charges because the case review had been scheduled for February 15 since January. He said LEAD contacted him again on Feb. 9 to say Kim Foxx and Lanier were “angry about my decision” not to charge O’Donnell” and [they] would speak directly to” ISP Director Brendan Kelly.
Finally, on Feb. 14, the day before ISP was scheduled to review the O’Donnell case and reach conclusions, prosecutors secured direct indictment of O’Donnell by a grand jury, according to multiple ISP documents.
Prosecutors never informed ISP of their plans and, according to Gainer’s memo, the prosecution put one of its own investigators on the witness stand as a grand jury witness rather than calling a state police officer. The prosecutor’s investigator had “a limited role of assistance in [the] initial investigation,” Gainer explained.
According to Gainer, someone leaked news of the grand jury indictment to the Chicago Sun-Times on the same day it fell. ISP learned about the leak when a reporter contacted Oak Lawn police about the complaint and Oak Lawn asked ISP if it was true.
Director writes to Foxx
On March 3, ISP Director Brendan Kelly sent a two-page letter to Foxx to “express concerns” about the O’Donnell investigation.
He made clear that the letter was not intended to “argue or criticize the charging decision,” but rather to express concern about the failure to include “standard involvement or input” from the investigators who investigated the handled the case.
“Contrary to established practice for more than two decades, there was not the usual discussion of the investigation with the PITF or with special agents regarding potential evidentiary issues… prior to the indictment,” Kelly wrote.
The director was also concerned that prosecutors asked investigators to drop a charge against O’Donnell before changing course and going to the grand jury.
The “decision to dismiss a complaint is the sole discretion of the police,” Kelly wrote. “A police officer must believe, based on the evidence developed during his investigation, that there is probable cause that a criminal offense has been committed before he can confirm the allegation(s) in a complaint. The ISP Major Case Counsel review was scheduled for February 15 to review this regulatory threshold requirement that our officers must meet.
Kelly acknowledged that ISP and Foxx’s office held a meeting in 2021 that turned into a strong interagency relationship in the fight against highway shootings.
He suggested that the agencies work out a new agreement to build an equally strong relationship regarding investigations such as the one involving O’Donnell.”
Kelly said he wanted to ensure the agreement “reflects best practices and agreements with both the spirit and letter of the Police and Community Relations Improvement Act.”
“For example, in no other county in the state does a public corruption task force consist of investigators from the Attorney General’s Office who will ultimately review the same task force’s investigations.”
“I am confident that we can improve and even transform our partnership with LEAD,” concludes Kelly.
Statement from the State’s Attorney
CWBChicago asked the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office about its decision to drop charges against O’Donnell and its input into the ISP documents. The agency responded with the following statement:
“After a thorough investigation, we have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to meet our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt to proceed with the prosecution of this case. Prosecutors must evaluate the evidence at each stage of a criminal proceeding and act accordingly in the pursuit of justice. Throughout the course of this case, the CCSAO has been in contact with the victim, his family and attorney as we sought an appropriate resolution. Today we asked the court to dismiss the case, and the court granted our request.”
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