Chicago’s top cop said Thursday one of his officers was seriously beaten at an accident scene because the national focus on police shootings has caused officers to second-guess themselves.

Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the patrol officer told him she did not use her gun to defend herself for fear of a backlash. "She didn’t want her family or the department to go through the scrutiny the next day on national news," he said.

The injured officer, a 17-year Chicago police veteran, got into a struggle with a man who allegedly was high on PCP after she stopped at a crash scene in the Austin community on the West Side on Wednesday morning.

The suspect smashed the officer's face into the pavement repeatedly until she was unconscious, police said.