The charges against the Chicago police officer involved in the 2012 shooting death of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd have been dismissed, WLS reports.
A Cook County judge ruled that there was no evidence of reckless conduct, which would be necessary to move forward with the involuntary manslaughter charge, prompting the dismissal, the news station reports. Dante Servin, the officer involved, had been kept on the force but had been stripped of his powers and was on desk duty during the court proceedings.
Boyd was among a group of people in Douglas Park when Servin approached and told them to keep the noise down. There was an exchange of words before, Servin said, he saw one of the men in the group pull out what he thought was a gun. Servin fired his gun from his car, hitting Boyd in the back of the head. She died the following day.
"Simply put: The evidence presented in this case does not support the charges on which this defendant was charged and tried. There being no evidence of recklessness as a matter of law, there is no evidence to which the state could sustain its burden of proof to the charge of involuntary manslaughter," Judge Dennis Porter said, according to the station. "Therefore, there is a finding of not guilty on all counts and the defendant is discharged."
According to WLS, the courtroom remained silent for a while as the judge left, and then a man started shouting, "This isn't right."
The man was escorted out of the courtroom, and the disorder continued out in the hallway.
In 2013 Boyd's family settled with Chicago, with the city paying $4.5 million in the wrongful death case.
Read more at WLB.