Chicago Police officer charged in shooting that killed woman



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.