City May Pay $4.5M in Police Misconduct Settlement

Chicago taxpayers may be paying $4.5 million to the family of a woman who was killed by an off-duty police officer.

Chicago's City Council Finance Committee will address the proposed lawsuit settlement at their meeting Monday, along with another $1.8 million settlement, according to the committee’s agenda.

The family of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd, who was fatally shot in the back of the head by an off-duty officer in March 2012, filed a wrongful death lawsuit last April.

According to the family's attorney, James Montgomery, the off-duty officer, Dante Servin, got into an argument with the man with whom Boyd was walking. Words were exchanged and Servin pulled his gun and fired shots, hitting both Boyd and her friend.

Neither victim was armed, Montgomery said.

The committee will also address a settlement for $1.8 million in the case of James Andrews who allegedly confessed to two murders because of police torture.

The suit names the officers involved, former police lieutenant Jon Burge and former police detectives Daniel McWeeny and Raymond Madigan along with the City of Chicago.

The committee has approved millions in settlements this year, including $22.5 million to Christina Eilman, who was dropped-off by police in a South Side neighborhood while having a bipolar breakdown. Eilman was later sexually assaulted and either fell or was pushed from a seventh floor window of the former Robert Taylor Homes, leaving her permanently disabled.

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