Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has moved to fire an officer for the 2012 fatal off-duty shooting of Rekia Boyd, an unarmed 22-year-old woman.
McCarthy has agreed to move to terminate Chicago police officer Dante Servin "after a comprehensive review of the investigation," McCarthy said in a statement.
“After considerable deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that Officer Dante Servin showed incredibly poor judgement in his efforts to intervene in a low-level dispute while off-duty," McCarthy said in the statement. "His actions tragically resulted in the death of an innocent young woman and an unthinkable loss for a Chicago family and community. In the end, CPD has rules that we all must live by. Officer Servin violated those rules and he’s going to be held accountable for that."
Formal charges backing up the termination will be sent to the Chicago Police Board for review and further action on Wednesday, according to the statement.
"As a result of Dante Servin’s actions, a young woman who was an innocent bystander lost her life," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. "He does not deserve to wear a police star or to patrol our communities, and today’s decision is the right one for Chicago."
Servin, who shot Boyd in March 2012, was acquitted by a judge earlier this year of charges of involuntary manslaughter.
"It’s extremely disappointing that rather than make a decision based on the evidence, as he did when he immediately came out in support of Dante Servin after Servin’s acquittal on all criminal charges, Supt McCarthy chose to ignore the evidence this time and make one based on politics and public pressure," Servin's attorney Darren O'Brien said in a statement. "How can McCarthy completely reverse his position when he repeatedly supported Servin’s acquittal and when there has been no new evidence supporting Dante Servin’s dismissal? I’ve seen the charges and there’s nothing there that hasn’t been known from the time Dante Servin was found not guilty."
Boyd was shot while walking to a store with three friends. Servin allegedly asked the group to quiet down and opened fire because he believed another person in the group was moving toward him with a gun, though police found only a cellphone.
Prosecutors said Servin fired five shots over his shoulder from inside his car at the group, who all had their backs to him in an alley. Boyd was struck in the head and one other person was grazed by a bullet.
The city settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with Boyd's family for $4.5 million in 2013. A few months later, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office charged Servin with involuntary manslaughter.
But after a four-day bench trial, a judge ruled that prosecutors failed to prove Servin acted recklessly, in the precise legal sense of the word. He said Illinois courts have consistently held that the act of pointing a gun and firing is an intentional act, not a reckless one.
Servin told reporters after the decision he had no regrets, though he said his "heart goes out to the family."
"Any police officer, especially, would have reacted in the exact same manner that I reacted, and I'm glad to be alive. I saved my life that night," Servin said.
