All charges have been dropped against an Oak Lawn police officer accused of using excessive force in the arrest of a teen following a traffic stop two years ago.
Charges against Officer Patrick O’Donnell were dropped one day before a bench trial was to begin on December 19. O’Donnell was charged with repeatedly punching Hadi Abuatelah, who was then 17.
The incident took place on July 27, 2022, after police pulled over a vehicle and said they could smell the odor of burnt cannabis. The driver was searched without complaint. When Abuatelah — who was sitting in the back seat — was asked to get out of the vehicle, he fled with officers in close pursuit, according to police.
O’Donnell and two other officers were filmed by a bystander when they tackled Abuatelah at 95th and McVicker. O’Donnell had reportedly hit the teen repeatedly in the head.
Police said that Abuatelah appeared nervous when asked to exit the vehicle. Abuatelah had an accessory bag draped over his shoulder. After being tackled he tried to open the bag, police said. Police found a .25 caliber pistol inside the bag.
“They (police) feared for their safety and he would not release the bag,” said Oak Lawn Police Chief Daniel Vittorio at a press conference following the incident.
Protests followed the arrest as Oak Lawn police were accused of not only using excessive force but for allegedly mistreating Arab Americans.
O’Donnell was charged by a grand jury last year for aggravated battery and official misconduct.
He later pleaded not guilty.
He was supposed to have a bench trial on Dec. 19 before Judge Domenica Stephenson at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Vittorio and Oak Lawn Mayor Terry Vorderer did not comment on the dismissal of the charges due to civil litigations that are pending.
O’Donnell was originally charged when Kim Foxx was the Cook County State’s Attorney. Eileen O’Neill Burke, the new Cook County State’s Attorney, said after the dismissal that prosecutors did not proceed because they lacked evidence for a conviction.
“Prosecutors must evaluate the evidence at every stage of a criminal proceeding and act accordingly to the pursuit of justice,” O’Neill Burke provided in a statement after the charges were dropped.
She added that communication with the victim, family and their attorney was kept open in determining an appropriate resolution.
“Today, we asked the court to dismiss the case, and the court granted our motion,” O’Neill Burke wrote.
Members of the Arab American Action Network, who staged various protests at the Oak Lawn Village Board meetings after the incident, opposed the decision to dismiss the charges.
They claim that O’Neill Burke is not providing justice and is “returning the office to the old-style Chicago politics of back-room dealings.”
Abuatelah’s family and the Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago have filed a civil rights lawsuit against O’Donnell and the two other Oak Lawn police officers. The Village of Oak Lawn is included in the suit. The suit is still pending in federal court.
The family and attorneys for the teen said he spent six days at Advocate Christ Medical Center for facial and pelvis fractures and was treated for swelling of the brain following the incident.
Abuatelah was later charged along with two other teens in December 2023 with a felony count of robbery in relation to a confrontation at Lifetime Fitness in Orland Park. According to court records, the teens began kicking and punching someone they knew while inside the facility.