American Justice…Better for some “special” people – bad for everyone else.
Rekia Boyd – Murder victim.
Dante Servin Quits, Set To Collect Pension 4 Years After Killing Rekia Boyd
The police detective who shot into a crowd while off-duty and killed teenager Rekia Boyd in 2012 has resigned, saving his pension as well as the indignity of getting fired.
Dante Servin’s resignation Tuesday came two days before an “evidentiary hearing” before the Chicago Police Board, said Max Caproni, the police board’s executive director. Any charges against Servin, a 24-year police veteran, will now be dropped.
Servin’s resignation comes about a year after he was acquitted of all charges related to the death of Boyd, a 22-year-old woman who was with a group of near Douglas Park when Servin pulled a gun while off-duty and shot into the crowd, striking Boyd in the head.
By resigning, Servin is now eligible to collect his pension and any other outstanding benefits he stood to lose if fired, angering the activists who called for his ouster.
Dante Servin
“The best union to be in in this country is the [Fraternal Order of Police] because you can get away with murder and still get paid,” community activist and anti-violence organizer Father Michael Pfleger said.
Martinez Sutton, Boyd’s brother, said he found out about Servin quitting Tuesday morning and wasn’t at all surprised. He said he figured the process would drag on until Servin walked away with his pension.
After four years of fighting for “justice” for his sister, Sutton said he wasn’t sure what “justice” was anymore.
“It destroyed a family. Rekia was light,” he said. “I don’t know how it affects [Servin], but he has to live with that. He has to live with it on his conscience.”
Servin was found not guilty on manslaughter charges in Boyd’s shooting death just over a year ago. A judge’s ruling suggested he should have been charged with murder instead, which was “unusual” according to legal experts.
Servin’s continued employment drew infuriated protesters and figured in Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s defeat in the March primary. Former top cop McCarthy last year recommended to the Police Board that Servin be fired.
Servin “should’ve been fired and instead he can resign and make money and that’s an insult,” Pfleger said. Trina Reynolds-Tyler of Black Youth Project 100, an activist group that called for Servin’s ouster, said his resignation is “disrespectful.”
“He just took an early retirement,” Reynolds-Tyler said. “It’s ridiculous that this process has taken so long to get to a firing hearing.”
Page May, another local activist, said “it ain’t over” till Servin loses his pension.
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