CHICAGO – A Chicago police detective and his one-time commander contradicted each other in dramatic testimony Tuesday at a potentially landmark trial focused on whether there's a secret code in the department dictating that officers rally around fellow officers accused of wrongdoing.

The contradictory testimony revolved around a central question at the federal civil trial in Chicago: Did higher ups in the department try to soft-pedal a Feb. 19, 2007, beating of a female bartender by off-duty police officer Anthony Abbate?

The trial, now in its second week, stems from a lawsuit filed against Abbate and the city by Karolina Obrycka, who was tending bar at Jesse's Shortstop Inn when the hulking Abbate flung her to the floor and then punched and kicked her.