Outrageous Injustice! Cop who Murdered Rekia Boyd Goes Free Without Even Having to Make a Defense

Police Murder Must Stop!
We Need a Revolution!

April 20, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On Monday, April 20 the courtroom exploded in an emotional outburst when the only cop indicted and tried in Chicago in 15 years for killing a civilian was acquitted by the judge for the murder of Rekia Boyd. Rekia’s brother expressed righteous outrage at this unjust verdict and pointed at Servin, “That man killed my sister.”

Rekia was 22 years old on a warm March night in 2012. She was hanging out with a group of friends in the park. Dante Servin, an off duty CPD detective who lived in the neighborhood, pulled up near the group and had words with one person. Then Servin shot over his shoulder 5 times into the group who were all facing away from him, hitting Rekia in the back of the head and another man in the hand. She died within 24 hours. Servin claimed that he “feared for his life” but the investigation later showed that none of the people he shot at were armed, nor were they threatening him. But the truth and Rekia’s life did not matter in the court of law.

The City had already settled with Rekia’s family for $4.5 million without admitting guilt. But the family wanted real justice – they wanted Servin indicted and convicted. Servin was not charged with murder but rather with the lesser charges of manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm, and reckless conduct. Court observers noted that charges like these are usually brought against someone who discharges a gun while cleaning it, for instance, not for intentionally firing a gun into a crowd. This “undercharging” enabled the judge to say essentially that the cop was guilty of much MORE than “recklessness,” and then turn around and find him “not guilty” of all counts!

The only reason that Servin was indicted and tried at all was because of a huge and prolonged struggle by Rekia’s family, friends and supporters. But the prosecution, according to a number of observers, “forgot how to prosecute” and didn’t even mount a half-hearted case. The prosecutors also allowed a law student intern to conduct some of the direct examination during the “trial,” and failed to call any of the family members for the prosecution. Yes, not at all what the masses face when they come into court! Then halfway through the trial, the judge ruled in a rare directed verdict that the prosecution had not proved its case: “the evidence presented does not support the charges on which the defendant was indicted and tried.”

With the bang of a gavel another murdering cop walks free, while another wronged and heartbroken family gets a kick in the gut – in the form of a ruling that says it’s just fine for the cop to kill Rekia and walk away unpunished. How can anyone accept this as “justice”? It is intolerable, twisted and cruel. As Servin left the court, people shouted “murderer, murderer.” To add insult to injury, Servin was quoted on the news as saying he “hoped the family will find closure.” Fuck that!

Meanwhile the sheriffs had a police dog waiting in the hallway when people were pushed out of the courtroom. This all had to have been planned in advance, it happened so fast. And then the elevators opened and dozens of sheriffs flooded into the hallway outside the courtroom. Once again, the supporters of the families were treated as criminals while the killer cop walked free!

This shows once again that the capitalist/imperialist rulers of this country refuse to punish their murdering enforcers – regardless of how clear cut the evidence is. People need to confront and dig deeply into why this happens and come to grips with the fact that this system has no future for millions of Black and Latino youth and little other than prison and terror to keep them in line. We need a revolution to get rid of this genocidal program once and for all. Let’s get with preparing for that revolution that is so urgently needed.

As of this writing, some streets on the west side of Chicago have been shut down for two hours by protests. A tweet which accompanied one photo described the protesters: “four lanes of traffic shut down on Roosevelt Road by protest demanding justice for #RekiaBoyd.”

 

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