A Chicago police officer was hit in the head with a baseball bat while trying to break up a fight in the West Englewood neighborhood early Saturday, according to authorities.
The officer is in serious condition at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County. Sources have said that the officer's vital signs have improved since he was first hospitalized.
He was hit about 12:40 a.m. in the 5700 block of South Winchester Avenue. According to police sources, the officer was hit on purpose while trying to break up the fight possibly involving "dozens" of people and police are looking for "multiple" people in connection with the incident.
The officer was an Englewood District beat officer who had joined the department in 2009, sources said.
It's not clear if the officer was working alone, and other circumstances leading up to the attack weren't immediately clear. But sources said the officer had called for backup.
No other information was available from police, who did not speak to the media beyond releasing a brief statement from the department's News Affairs office.
Copyright 2013 - Chicago Tribune
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
