On November 25, 2013, Detective Dante Servin was charged in connection with a shooting that left 22-year-old Rekia Boyd dead. The Chicago Tribune reports that Servin is only the second officer to be prosecuted for a shooting since 1997. Since 1998, 659 people in Chicago have been shot by the police.
Servin was off duty when he drove up on a small group of people in the Douglas Park neighborhood and told them to quiet down. The group responded by making fun of Servin.  That’s when Servin claims that Antonio Cross, a convicted felon, pulled out a gun. Servin shot into the crowd five times, hitting Cross in his hand and Boyd in her head. Boyd died the following day and Cross was charged with assaulting an officer.
Attorneys for the city contradicted Servin’s story, saying Cross had a phone in his hand, not a gun. The City settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Boyd’s estate for $4.5 million. Charges against Cross were dropped within a week of the settlement.
Read the complete story here.
