Killing
Servin, an off-duty police officer, drove his car to Douglass Park on the West Side of Chicago after calling the police to make a noise complaint. [3] He then approached a group of four individuals who had been partying in the park [3] [4] and had some form of verbal altercation with them. [3] [4] One of the victims, Antonio Cross, alleged that he believed Servin was looking for a drug dealer, to which Cross allegedly told Servin to get his "crackhead ass" out of there. [3]
Servin fired on the group, hitting Rekia Boyd in the head, and Antonio Cross in the hand.
"At trial in April 2015, Rekia’s close friend Ikca testified that once Dante Servin began shooting, all who were gathered ran from his bullets. Ikca hid behind a large tree to avoid being shot. She saw Rekia on the ground injured and dying. Ikca was prevented from riding with Rekia in the ambulance. In fact, the police at the scene threatened to arrest her if she didn’t leave. Ikca told the judge that Rekia hated to be alone." [5]
Initially, the Chicago police department claimed that Servin had discharged his weapon after Cross had approached him with a gun. [6] The Boyd family quickly responded that the object was in fact a cell phone. [7] No weapon was ever recovered from the scene. [4]
Aftermath
On April 5, 2012, Boyd’s family filed a lawsuit against Chicago. The lawsuit was settled in March 2013. In November 2013, Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter, [8] he requested a bench trial. This was the first time in 17 years that criminal charges were filed against an off-duty cop in Cook County, IL. [5] The last such case occurred in 1995, when Gregory Becker was charged and later convicted of killing Joseph Gould. [9] Servin was cleared on April 20, 2015 by Judge Dennis J. Porter in a rare directed verdict. [10] Porter's reasoning was that since the shooting was intentional, Servin could not be charged with recklessness. "It is intentional and the crime, if any there be, is first-degree murder," said Porter in his ruling. [11] Following this ruling, Servin could not be charged with murder due to double jeopardy protections. [12] Servin claimed he fired because someone in the group was holding a gun, but it was actually only a cellphone. [13]
Following the April ruling, Chicago-based organizers met and planned a number of actions through the Spring and Summer of 2015 to ensure "that Rekia would not be forgotten and that her family would not be abandoned." [14] Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) organized a rally at a Chicago Police Board meeting in August 2015, effectively shutting the meeting down early in response to cavalier treatment of Boyd's bereaved brother, Martinez Sutton. [15]
In November 2015, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police superintendent Garry McCarthy both suggested that Dante Servin should be fired by the Chicago Police Board. [16] The city paid $4.5 million to Boyd's family to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit. [9]
Servin resigned on May 17, 2016, two days before the departmental hearing which was to decide whether he should be fired. [17] [18]
In November 2019, Servin requested that the case be expunged from his record. The request was denied by a judge, as was a subsequent request to seal the case's records. [19]
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