A Chicago Police officer was
charged with involuntary manslaughter Monday in connection with an off-duty
shooting that left a 22-year-old woman dead and a man wounded on the West Side
last year.
Cook County Judge Donald
Panarese ordered Dante Servin held on $75,000 bond on charges of involuntary
manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.
Servin, who had been working as
an Area Central detective since the shooting, will be stripped of his police
powers until after the trial.
Fraternal Order of Police
spokesman Pat Camden criticized the charges, calling it a “sad day” when a
Chicago Police officer is “charged for doing something he’s trained to do when
defending himself.”
A federal lawsuit was filed
against Servin and the city in March by Antonio Cross, who was wounded in the
shooting on March 20, 2012. The family of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd, who died in
the shooting, reached a separate $4.5 million settlement with the city in
March.
Prosecutors said Monday that
Servin was on his way home when he heard a large crowd in Douglas Park and
called 911 to report a party.
Servin later left his home with
an unregistered handgun and encountered the victim and three others by an
alley, prosecutors said.
After words were exchanged,
prosecutors said, a person in the group pulled out a cellphone, and Servin
opened fire.
At the time of the shooting,
police said the off-duty detective rolled down his window to investigate some
people causing a disturbance when Cross — later charged with misdemeanor
aggravated assault — approached carrying a handgun.
Police said Cross, then known
as Anthony Cross, pointed the gun at the detective, prompting him to fire,
hitting Cross and Boyd.
Cross, then 39, was shot in the
hand, and was treated and released from a hospital, but Boyd, who was shot in
the head, died the next day at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Boyd’s family filed suit over
the shooting in 2012, claiming she was not armed and presented no threat to Servin.
The City Council Finance Committee signed off on a $4.5 million settlement in
March.