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3 Chicago police officers charged in bar fight

Three Chicago police officers were charged Tuesday with beating four businessmen at an upscale city bar in an attack that authorities said was caught on videotape, officials said.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Three Chicago police officers were charged Tuesday with beating four businessmen at an upscale city bar in an attack that authorities said was caught on videotape, officials said.

Sgt. Jeffrey Planey, 33, was charged Tuesday with obstruction of justice, aggravated battery and official misconduct, according to John Gorman, Cook County state's attorney's office spokesman.

Officers Paul Powers, 25, and Gregory Barnes, 39, were charged with aggravated battery, Gorman said.

The officers turned themselves in Tuesday and will remain in custody until a Wednesday court appearance, he said.

A Chicago police spokeswoman said the department would comment Wednesday.

The three were among a group of six off-duty officers involved in the Dec. 15 fight at the Jefferson Tap and Grille.

In a federal lawsuit filed this month, the four men allege six officers attacked them while they were playing pool. They say the attack left them with broken ribs, broken facial bones, injured vertebrae and bruises.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

Superintendent Philip Cline has acknowledged that police were called to the Jefferson Tap and Grille on Chicago's North Side but left without intervening after a sergeant waved them off.

The allegations against the officers surfaced shortly after another videotape was made public that showed another Chicago police officer apparently beating a female bartender Feb. 19.