Chicago police detective Dante Servin has been found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Rekia Boyd. A Cook County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Porter ruled that the state had failed to prove recklessness on Servin’s part after he fired his unregistered handgun over his shoulder from inside his car into a dark alley, hitting Boyd in the back of the head.
Reading his seven-page ruling from the bench, the judge said there was no dispute that Servin had intended to kill Cross, but under the involuntary manslaughter law, prosecutors had to prove he acted recklessly in the legal sense of the word.
“It is easy to say, ‘Of course the defendant was reckless. He intentionally shot in the direction of a group of people on the sidewalk. That is really dangerous … and in fact Rekia Boyd was killed. Case closed,’ ” Porter wrote. “It is easy to think that way, but it is wrong.”
That’s because 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 he said he had no choice under the law but to dismiss the charges.
In short: Servin might have been guilty of first-degree murder, just not involuntary manslaughter, so he goes free and will shortly be reinstated to active police duty.
In March of 2012, Boyd and three friends were walking to a store near Chicago’s Douglas Park when Servin, off duty at the time, told the group to quiet down. Words were exchanged, and then Servin fired five shots at the group from inside his car. Boyd was killed, and her boyfriend, Antonio Cross, was grazed in the thumb. Servin later said that he feared for his life and claimed to see Cross pull a gun from his waistband and point it at him, and that he heard a gunshot and felt “something” on the back of his head before he started shooting. Police never found a weapon, and Cross says he was holding a cell phone.
Speaking to reporters at the courthouse after his acquittal, Servin said, “Any reasonable person, any police officer especially, would’ve reacted in the exact same manner that I reacted. And I’m glad to be alive. I saved my life that night. I’m glad that I’m not a police death statistic. Antonio Cross is a would-be cop killer, and that’s all I have to say.”
He also said, “I think it was a mistake for the state’s attorney to charge me. But I also explained to the family, if this is what they needed for closure, to be charged, I hope they got what they’re looking for.”