(MCT) — CHICAGO — In riveting testimony Tuesday, high-ranking law enforcement officials tripped over themselves trying to explain to a federal jury how they handled the early days of the explosive reports that an off-duty Chicago police officer had pummeled a female bartender half his size — and that it had all been caught on videotape.

Debra Kirby, who was head of the Internal Affairs Division at the time and remains a ranking member in the department, told the jury at the civil trial stemming from the 2007 beating that during a phone call she told a Cook County prosecutor she wanted Officer Anthony Abbate charged with a felony and denied ever seeking a misdemeanor offense.