Chicago officer charged with battery

A Chicago police officer has been charged with domestic battery and stripped of her police powers, officials said. The case comes as the department grapples with three videos that allegedly show other officers attacking people.

A police spokesman said the female officer was involved in a domestic dispute early Thursday and was later arrested and charged.

The Cook County State's Attorney's office on Friday identified the officer as Velvet Townsel, 52, and said she has been charged with misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and resisting arrest.

Andy Conklin, spokesman for the state's attorney's office, did not know whether she had an attorney, and there was no telephone listing for Velvet Townsel in Chicago.

Officials have promised to move more quickly to get accused officers off the streets.

In the first case, a videotape now played around the world shows a man who police say is an off-duty officer beating a woman bartender. And six other officers are accused of beating four businessman in an incident also caught on tape.

A third tape allegedly shows an officer in a bar fight with another officer from Washington, D.C.

Of the three fights caught on videotape, only the man accused of beating a bartender resulted in criminal charges.

Also this week, Superintendent Phil Cline announced he was retiring.

(A previous version of this story said that Andy Conklin was a police spokesman. He is a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.)