CHICAGO (AP) — A former Chicago police officer convicted of beating a female bartender testified Tuesday in a civil case with potentially far-reaching consequences for the city, saying he never implored fellow officers to cover up the 2007 attack that was caught on videotape.

Anthony Abbate’s denials came during one of the first trials in Chicago’s history to focus on whether there’s an unwritten but well-entrenched department code that officers must rally around colleagues who are accused of wrongdoing.

Karolina Obrycka was tending bar at Jesse’s Shortstop Inn in 2007, when the drunk off-duty officer flung her to the floor and then punched and kicked her.