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Friends and family at a rally remembered Rekia Boyd Saturday as a trial date looms for the Chicago police detective accused in her fatal shooting, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The officer, Dante Servin, was charged with involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors say he recklessly opened fire, over his shoulder, at a group of people on March 21, 2012, fatally wounding 22-year-old Boyd. The trial is scheduled to begin April 9, after it was postponed from an October start date.
The charges against Servin, also accused of reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct, were the first time in more than 15 years that a police officer was charged in Chicago in connection with a fatal shooting, the report says. He was placed on paid desk duty and stripped of his police powers.
The city of Chicago paid $4.5 million to settle the wrongful-death suit filed by Boyd’s family. But that has been of little solace to her family. Her brother Martinez Sutton, 32, told protesters Saturday that he’s still looking for answers in her death, the Tribune writes.
“They say that her death was justified,” he said at the rally, the news outlet writes. “Her death was justified. Man. How? What did Rekia do? That’s what everybody asks me. And I’m still trying to find out. Because talking to everybody that was involved, I get the same answer. Nothing. So why is she dead?”
Source: The Root | LYNETTE HOLLOWAY
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