In courtroom packed with fellow officers, Oak Lawn cop pleads not guilty to battery, misconduct charges in teen’s arrest

Dozens of officers on Wednesday walk through the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse following a hearing for Oak Lawn Police Officer Patrick O’Donnell, who faces charges of aggravated battery and official misconduct in connection with the beating of a teenager during an arrest last summer in the southwest suburb. (Matthew Hendrickson/Sun-Times)

Oak Lawn Police Officer Patrick O’Donnell pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony charges that he abused his authority when he repeatedly punched a 17-year-old boy in the head during an arrest last summer in the southwest suburb. 

More than three dozen officers, most of them wearing Oak Lawn police uniforms, packed into a small second-floor courtroom and spilled out into the hallway at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse for the hearing Wednesday morning in a show of support for O’Donnell.