The Militant - January 6, 2014 -- Chicago cop hit with manslaughter charge for killing Rekia Boyd, 22

Vol. 78/No. 1 January 6, 2014

Chicago cop hit with manslaughter
charge for killing Rekia Boyd, 22

BY JOHN HAWKINS
CHICAGO — Opponents of police brutality here won a victory Nov. 25 when the Cook County State’s Attorney office filed charges against Chicago police detective Dante Servin for the March 21, 2012, killing of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd.

Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct, and was stripped of his police powers through at least the conclusion of legal proceedings against him.

Servin, who was off duty, was in his car when he got into a verbal altercation with a group of youths near his home and one of the young men allegedly walked toward Servin’s vehicle holding a cellphone. Servin pulled his gun and fired five shots.

One of the shots struck Antonio Cross, who was holding the cellphone, in the hand. Another struck Boyd in the back of the head. She died the next day.

Servin is only the second Chicago cop to be charged with a crime for shooting someone in the last 17 years. Cop Gregory Becker was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1997 for killing a homeless man when his gun discharged as he beat the man with it two years before. Becker was off-duty at the time.

City officials sought to sweep the killing of Boyd under the rug. The State’s Attorney’s Office charged Cross with aggravated assault, but filed no charges against Servin.

But Boyd’s family refused to back down. They filed suit against the city, publicly demanded action against Servin and spoke out at news conferences and Chicago Police Board meetings.

On March 13, the Chicago City Council approved paying $4.5 million to settle a wrongful death suit filed on behalf of Boyd’s estate. That same day the State’s Attorney dropped charges against Cross.

“I still have the same feelings I had before,” Boyd’s brother Martinez Sutton told the Chicago Sun Times at the time the settlement was announced. “I still want this guy in jail. No amount of money can bring my sister back.”