Chicago pig who killed Rekia Boyd resigns before possible firing...
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-cop-dante-servin-resigns-met-20160518-story.html
Police Detective Dante Servin resigns before possible firing over fatal shooting
Chicago police Detective Dante Servin has resigned days before hearings were to begin into whether he should be fired for an off-duty 2012 incident in which he fatally shot an innocent 22-year-old woman, the chairman of the Chicago Police Board confirmed Tuesday.
Lori Lightfoot said the hearings were canceled after Servin submitted his resignation papers Tuesday.
Then-police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced his decision to fire Servin in November 2015 — just a day before Chicago police Officer Jason Van ? was charged with first-degree murder in the on-duty shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald. The fatal shooting of McDonald was captured on police dashboard camera video, touching off waves of protests when it was released to the public by court order.
Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of a black woman, Rekia Boyd. But in April 2015, a Cook County judge acquitted Servin in a bombshell ruling after concluding that prosecutors brought the wrong charge.
Servin has maintained from the beginning that he had opened fire that night after seeing a friend of Boyd's raise a gun at him. However, no gun was recovered.
By resigning, Servin avoided testifying publicly about the shooting.
The case has taken on national interest amid growing concern about police use of lethal force, particularly on unarmed minorities, after incidents in Ferguson, Mo., New York City and elsewhere across the country.
Despite McCarthy's move to fire Servin, he had publicly disagreed with the filing of criminal charges. After Servin's acquittal, McCarthy told reporters the charges against him were a "safety hazard" for other officers who might hesitate to fire their guns at offenders if their lives are in danger.
The nine-member, mayoral-appointed Chicago Police Board, which would have made the decision on whether Servin should be fired from the Police Department, was scheduled to begin hearings Thursday. Five days had been set aside for the hearings, and Servin was expected to testify under oath for the first time.
Boyd was shot and killed when Servin fired over his shoulder at a group from inside his vehicle near his West Side home. The officer told police he thought a person in the group had a gun.
When the Independent Police Review Authority recommended Servin's dismissal in September, its then-chief administrator said the detective committed several violations, including shooting Boyd by discharging his gun into a crowd. Servin also committed "inattention to duty" for making inconsistent statements about the incident to IPRA, Cook County prosecutors and Chicago police detectives, IPRA held.
In November 2013, Servin was the first Chicago police officer in years to be criminally charged for a fatal off-duty shooting, but the bench trial abruptly ended in April when a veteran Cook County judge acquitted the detective on a legal fine point.
Judge Dennis Porter, in a controversial decision, ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that Servin acted recklessly, saying that Illinois courts have consistently held that when an individual points a gun at an intended victim and shoots, even when a crowd is present, it is an intentional act, not a reckless one.
Porter concluded that based on the evidence presented, murder was the appropriate charge — if there were charges at all.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has defended her decision to charge Servin with involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors had alleged Servin acted recklessly when he fired five shots over his shoulder from inside his car in the direction of four people who had their backs to him in a dark West Side alley.
Servin's attorneys said he was in fear for his life after Antonio Cross, one of the four, pulled an object from his waistband, pointed it at Servin and ran toward his car. But police found only a cellphone.
Boyd was fatally shot in the back of the head, while other rounds grazed Cross' hand and hit a signpost. Only Cross was charged in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, but the misdemeanor aggravated assault charge was dropped in March 2013 — on the same day the city formally agreed to pay Boyd's estate $4.5 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit.
By November 2013, Alvarez charged Servin with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a weapon and reckless conduct — the first criminal charges against an off-duty Chicago cop since Gregory Becker was charged in the 1995 killing of a homeless man, Joseph Gould. A jury convicted Becker in 1997 of armed violence, involuntary manslaughter and official misconduct, and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Reading his ruling from the bench, Porter said there was no dispute that Servin had intended to ? Cross, but under the involuntary manslaughter law, prosecutors had to prove he acted recklessly in the legal sense of the word.
Illinois law says that intentionally firing a gun at someone on the street "is an act that is so dangerous it is beyond reckless," Porter wrote. "It is intentional and the crime, if any there be, is first-degree murder." Porter acknowledged that it was "perhaps even unfortunate" that neither side would have "closure" on whether Servin was justified in opening fire that night, but Porter said he had no choice under the law but to dismiss the charges.