Body camera footage of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting his partner last year was released Friday by a civilian oversight board.
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Crystal Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the department, was shot and killed by Officer Carlos Baker on June 5 while chasing a suspect.
Graphic video from a body camera shows Baker kicking in the apartment door, discovering another man with a firearm, and then saying “wait” and “ah” before backing away amid the sound of a single gunshot.
Rivera’s body camera captured her running behind Baker as he chased the suspect. At the top of the stairs, the apartment door opens and Baker appears in front of it. Rivera then falls to the ground.
After hearing gunshots, Baker ran upstairs and yelled, “I fired at the police,” and “Crystal, are you okay?” The video shows.
He can be heard telling dispatchers that Rivera has been shot and calling for an ambulance and SWAT team. He returned to Rivera’s team 1 minute and 44 seconds later. “Stay with me,” he says as he drags her body from the second floor to the first floor, where backup officers appear to arrive.
Three days after the shooting, the Chicago Police Department released a statement saying, “An officer fired his weapon, fatally wounding Chicago Police Department Officer Cristal Rivera.”
The shooting is being investigated as an “involuntary discharge” by the city’s Office of Civilian Police Accountability.
“It is true that Officer Baker burst through the door that fateful night and was faced with the deadly blow of a rifle,” Baker’s attorney, Timothy Grace, said in a statement Saturday.
“While moving for cover, the weapon was unintentionally discharged, unbeknownst to the individual, striking Crystal,” the statement said.
It added that multiple factors, including the officer’s height, position, and the angle of the military weapon, “created a unique, dynamic and deadly situation that cannot be recreated in a controlled environment.”
Baker was granted immunity from law enforcement authority in August, which typically means officers are stripped of their guns and badges and no longer have the authority to make arrests, NBC Chicago reported. The newspaper reported that the move was unrelated to the June 5 mass shooting. He has not been charged with any crime.
On Friday, Chicago police said they were caring for Rivera’s family.
“These videos are difficult to view and we would like to remind the public that a Civilian Police Accountability Authority (COPA) investigation is active and CPD continues to cooperate,” the department said in a video statement. “Due to this active investigation, we have no further comment.”
A wrongful death lawsuit filed last year by Rivera’s family alleges Chicago police knew Baker was reckless and posed a threat to his partner. It said the two officers had been in a romantic relationship for about a month before Rivera’s shooting death. The lawsuit names Baker and the city of Chicago as defendants.
Rivera was dissatisfied with Baker’s work performance and wanted another partner, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages and says Rivera ended the relationship after learning he was living with another woman, a claim Grace claims is false.
Grace also said it was not true that the partners broke up about a month before Rivera’s death. “Their relationship was short and casual and ended many years ago,” Grace said, adding that the two were “best friends” at the time of the shooting.
“A lawsuit has been filed and I understand the pain, but unfortunately it was misdirected,” Grace said in a statement.
An attorney for Rivera’s mother, Yolanda Rivera, said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed that Baker has a history of serious misconduct both on and off duty.
“If multiple warning signs had been heeded and steps had been taken to remove him as a partner or remove him from the force altogether,” they said. “Certainly he never should have been a Chicago police officer in the first place.”
Regarding Baker’s disciplinary history, Grace said there was “very little disciplinary history.”
A Chicago Police Department spokesperson said Friday that the department cannot comment on pending litigation.
Chicago Police Union President John Catanzara defended Baker, saying he had “no malicious intent” and that he had “lost his balance.”
In a statement posted to YouTube, Catanzara said that immediately after the shooting, Baker believed the gunman had shot his partner and that he may be in continued danger.
He called Rivera’s death “one of the most tragic moments in the history of this department that I can remember.”
The complaint states Baker was “the only person who fired the firearm,” which police do not dispute.
On Friday, Antonio M. Romanucci, who represents Rivera’s mother in the lawsuit against the city, expressed his concerns in a video release. He claimed it had been redacted and not fully published.
The Civilian Police Accountability Commission did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Romanucci said his law firm will conduct a forensic analysis of the newly released video. His lawyers called for an independent investigation into the shooting.
