Two Chicago police officers are fired after they were caught beating innocent man

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Jason Orsa and Brian Murphy were sacked five years after fight in 2006
But their dismissals were thrown out by a judge and they stayed serving
After nearly a decade an Illinois appeals court upheld decision to fire them
Officers kicked and punched Obed DeLeon in Taco Bell store in Chicago

Published: 05:38 EST, 6 September 2016 | Updated: 09:25 EST, 6 September 2016

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Obed DeLeon was kicked and punch in a taco joint in Chicago

Two off-duty police officers have finally been fired more than a decade after they were caught on camera beating up an innocent man in a taco joint.

Five years after the incident in March 2006, Jason Orsa and Brian Murphy were sacked by the Chicago Police Board which decided they started the fight.

But their dismissals were thrown out by a Cook County judge in 2012, and they remained in the force until an Illinois appeals court upheld the board's original decision to fire them last month.

Orsa, Murphy, and fellow officer Daniel McNamara were eating at the Taco Burrito King of Harlem Avenue after visiting a nearby bar, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Obed 'OJ' DeLeon, now 32, walked in to get food for his pregnant fiancee and complained that a vehicle was obstructing the entrance to the parking lot.

Video shows Murphy approaching DeLeon and pointing his police-issue semi-automatic pistol at his head, before pushing him against a wall.

Murphy approached DeLeon and pointing his police-issue semi-automatic pistol at his head, before pushing him against a wall. Arrow shows where fight started

Orsa and McNamara, as well as their friend who had served in Iraq, joined in and DeLeon was punched and kicked (see top left of image)

Orsa and McNamara, as well as their friend who had served in Iraq, joined in and DeLeon was punched and kicked.

Witness Joseph Mularczyk, 36, said it was outrageous the officers had been able to continue serving after the incident.

He claimed this proved complaints against the police were 'covered up'.

'This is the reason why the general public has issues with police officers,' he told the Chicago Tribune.

Orsa and Murphy still have the option of appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court against the recent verdict.

Other customers in the taco restaurant look over their shoulders at the scuffle

The fight moves into the other corner of the restaurant. The three officers alleged that DeLeon shouted he was a 'cop killer', but there is no camera audio to back this claim up

There was not enough evidence against McNamara to prove he was complicit in the beating.

The three officers originally told investigators that DeLeon, who had gang tattoos, had said he was a 'cop killer'.

There was no audio on the surveillance cameras in the restaurant to back this claim up.

Officers in Chicago have been accused of using excessive force several times in the past.

Last month, footage was released showing police 'executing' an 18-year-old unarmed black teenager during a car theft investigation.

DeLeon's shirt was ripped off during the struggle, exposing his gang tattoos

The Taco Burrito King on Harlem Avenue, Chicago, where the beating took place

Paul O'Neal, 18, was shot in the back by police on July 28 during a stolen vehicle investigation on Chicago's South Shore, as he ran away from the responding officers.

And in May, lawyers of a pastor who is suing Chicago police for excessive force released dashcam footage of her being pepper sprayed and beaten by officers during a traffic stop.

At least one cop was seen standing by laughing.

Reverend Catherine Brown said she was 'treated like an animal' and feared for her life during the encounter in May 2013.

At the time her two children - aged eight and one - were in the car.