Acquittal of Chicago policeman who killed black woman 'inhumane'

[Jazzy]

Rekia Boyd, an unarmed black 22-year-old, was fatally shot in the back of the head by white police officer Dante Servin in Chicago in March 2012.

Servin's trial last month reportedly marked the first criminal prosecution of a Chicago police officer for a fatal shooting in nearly two decades.

While race was not a major element in the trial, it hung heavily over the proceedings amid a string of scandals surrounding police killings of unarmed black men.

On the day she was killed, Boyd and some friends had been walking to a store in west Chicago, when the officer, in plain clothes and in a civilian vehicle, "had words" with two of the guys in the group, Sutton said.

The group had turned into an alley, and according to Servin's attorney, one of the four pulled out an object -- which turned out to be a cellphone -- from his waistband and pointed it at the officer.

The officer has claimed he felt threatened when he fired shots at the group as they were walking away from him.

Servin was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter last month on a strange legal technicality, in which the judge said the prosecutor had failed to prove the officer had acted recklessly, hinting he should have been charged with murder instead.

Source

Thoughts?

 

[Webster]

Thoughts?

This doesn't surprise me; juries for years have long given law enforcement wide latitude in cases such as these on the predicate - and sometimes frankly BS - theory that cops can no wrong whatsoever.

 

[DrLeftover]

"Stand by for a Real Life Episode of 'Chicago Fire' as The Community responds."