A year ago this week, a fired-up crowd of activists packed the Chicago Police Board with a demand: Fire Detective Dante Servin for the 2012 fatal shooting of a young black woman named Rekia Boyd.
The activists returned each month, calling out the board and then-Superintendent Garry McCarthy for inaction. They shut down at least one meeting and did teach-ins outside police headquarters, where the board meets.
On Tuesday, just two days before the board was finally scheduled to begin a five-day hearing to determine whether Servin should indeed be fired for the fatal off-duty confrontation, the longtime officer abruptly resigned.
While the decision was not entirely surprising to the activists or Boyd’s family, it was another unsettling moment in a case that has already been clouded by confusion and uncertainty, including Servin’s acquittal last year on a legal fine point in the middle of his criminal trial for Boyd’s shooting.
“The pain wasn’t as heavy as the trial because I expected it,” Martinez Sutton, Boyd’s brother, said of Servin’s resignation. “At the same time it drags on your mental state. You’re just ready to get it over with. You want this thing called justice. You’re killing yourself to get it. It’s been four years.”
Servin’s attorney, who was preparing for the hearing up until this week, was not surprised Servin opted to leave on his own accord, citing the political climate in Chicago about policing. Darren O’Brien also said Servin’s pension was not affected by the decision — which union officials confirmed.
While his client was ready to take the stand and, for the first time under oath, explain what happened that night, Servin concluded that the deck was stacked against him, O’Brien said.
“Today, Dante Servin, with a heavy heart, made the difficult decision to retire from his job as a Chicago police officer — a job for which he has devoted his entire adult life,” O’Brien’s statement said. “… Servin realized that the current political climate made his termination a foregone conclusion. … Mr. Servin again expresses his deepest condolences to the family of Rekia Boyd.”
The case had 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 throughout the country.
The organizing around Boyd’s case, some activists said, helped form the foundation for weeks of protests that occurred after the court-ordered release in November of the dashboard camera video of a white Chicago police officer fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald. The fallout led to a U.S. Justice Department investigation into police use of force, creating one of the most serious crises in the Chicago Police Department’s history.
On Tuesday, activists saw a few positives in Servin’s decision, principally that he won’t carry police powers any longer. But it is short of what the department and city needs, they said.
“It’s a relief that he is not employed by the Chicago Police Department, but it is also unsettling … that he is escaping accountability,” said Janae Bonsu, the national public policy director of Black Youth Project 100. “I think it is an intentional way to save face and walk away. … There were just so many stages of this case that just continually denied Rekia Boyd’s family justice and spit in the face of accountability.”
McCarthy had announced his decision to fire Servin in November, just a day before Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of 17-year-old McDonald. Yet earlier, McCarthy had criticized the criminal charges against Servin, saying they posed a “safety hazard” for officers who might hesitate to fire their guns at offenders if their lives are in danger.
A month later, McCarthy was fired amid the fallout from the video showing McDonald being shot 16 times.
Boyd was shot March 21, 2012, as she was walking past Servin’s West Side home. The officer, who arrived home late after working a second job, had called police to complain about a loud party in nearby Douglas Park. He then left his home to get something to eat and encountered Boyd and three others.
Servin said he asked the group to keep it down but feared 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. Servin opened fire, striking Cross in the hand. But Boyd, 22, standing just a few feet away, was hit in the back of the head.
Police found only a cellphone on Cross, however.
Prosecutors charged Servin with involuntary manslaughter, alleging he had 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.
But the detective was acquitted in April 2015 of involuntary manslaughter in a controversial decision by a longtime Cook County judge. Judge Dennis Porter concluded that prosecutors brought the wrong charge.
Porter ruled that there was no dispute that Servin had intended to kill Cross, but under the involuntary manslaughter law prosecutors had to prove he acted recklessly.
State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez defended her decision to charge Servin with involuntary manslaughter.
After Servin’s announcement, Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who succeeded McCarthy, issued a statement Tuesday offering his condolences to the Boyd family.
“Officer Servin’s full actions resulted in … an unthinkable loss for a Chicago family,” Johnson said. “On behalf of the CPD I extend my deepest condolences to the family of Rekia Boyd and reaffirm this Department’s commitment to the highest levels of professional standards by policing and holding ourselves accountable for wrongdoing.”
Sutton, Boyd’s brother, welcomed Johnson’s comment.
“That’s the closest thing to an apology anyone has ever said,” Sutton said.
Twitter @annie1221
