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A Riverside police officer was injured early this morning while arresting a man wanted by Berwyn police in connection with an alleged domestic battery incident. Officer Leo Kotor sustained cuts and scrapes all over his face and arms and suffered a serious knee injury that will keep him off the streets until at least Aug. 2, said Police Chief Thomas Weitzel.

Charged with aggravated battery to a police officer and aggravated resisting arrest, both felonies, is 23-year-old Riverside resident Alexander N. Devaris. He will face a Cook County judge during a bond hearing Thursday, Weitzel said.

According to Weitzel, two Riverside police officers went to Devaris’s home in the 100 block of Gage Road after receiving word from Berwyn police that he was a suspect in connection with a domestic battery that had taken place at a two-flat in the 2100 block of Ridgeland Avenue.

Berwyn police reported that Devaris and his girlfriend had come back from a Chicago Cubs game and had gotten into a fight, during which Devaris allegedly pushed his 23-year-old girlfriend up a flight of stairs and then slammed her into the wall in a hallway.

Devaris had fled before Berwyn police arrived. Kotor and another officer found Devaris, reportedly extremely intoxicated, at his Riverside home. When the officers attempted to arrest him, Devaris allegedly punched Kotor in the face and them pushed him backward.

Kotor and Devaris landed in some bushes outside the front entrance and engaged in what Weitzel described as “a brawl.”

“When he was in custody, he continued to fight,” Weitzel said.

Kotor was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, where he was treated and released. Devaris was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for treatment of scrapes and bruises on his arms and back, Weitzel said.

“It seems more common that we’re fighting with people,” Weitzel said. “There’s a definite lack of respect for law enforcement. There doesn’t seem to be much hesitation for offenders or suspects to fight with police officers.”

Weitzel said that part of the reason for those actions are due to courts not taking batteries to police officers seriously enough.

“The court system does not treat these types of cases with great priority or severity,” Weitzel said.

Aggravated battery to a police officer is a Class 2 felony, which carries a punishment of between three and seven years in prison, if convicted.