A Chicago detective acquitted of killing an unarmed black woman 🧸four years ago wa🧸nts disability pay, claiming he is plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder from the fatal shooting.
Dante Servin, 48, is seekꦛing disability pay from the city in connection with the 2012 shooting that killed Rekia Boyd, 22. The 24-year veteran resigned in May, just days before a Chicago Police Board hearing to determine if he should b♔e fired in connection to Boyd’s death, .
The newspaper reports that “tens of thousands of dollars” are potentially at stꦿake,🌼 as Servin could collect as much as 75 percent of his former $104,000 salary until his police pension takes effect.
An attorney for the police pension board said the agency must first determine if Servin qualifies for disability pay. A technicality may actually block the former detective from rec🧸eiving it since he did not use up all his sick and furlough days before leaving the department, attorney David Kugler told the newspaper.
Servin’s attorney, Thomas Pleines, disagreed w💝ith that assessment, saying the fundamental issues of Servin’s claim is whether he was injured while performing his duties as a police detective and whether those injuries impacted his ability to continue working.
A psychologist has diagnosed Servin with post-traumatic stress disorder and the former detective has seen a psychiatrist, Pleines said🔯 in a memo to the pension board last month. Both doctors indicated Servin could not work as a result of the “various 🍸manifestations of the PTSD,” Pleines said. The memo did not elaborate or provide details.
The pension board is currently reviewing whether Servin’s disabilౠity claim has legal standing if he did indeed have unused sick days before quitting. A decision could be made as early as Nov. 3.
🔥Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in Boyd’s dea൩th in November 2013, the first time in two decades that a Chicago police officer was criminally charged in the fatal shooting of a citizen, according to the Tribune.
Then, in April 2015, a judge acquitted Servin, saying prosecutors failed to prove the off-duty officer acted recklessly. The Tribune reports that Judge Dennis Potter said Servin should have instead been charged with first-degree murder🙈 if any charges were filed because the former cop contended he was protecting himself when he intentionally fired at a man, Antonio Cross, wounding him in the hand during the March 2012 shooting.
Another woman several feet behind Cross – Rekia Boyd – was shot once in the back of the head and died the next day. Cro🌠ss later told authorities he was holding a cellphone while yelling and gesturing for Servin to leave, assuming the plain-clothed cop was driving in the alley to buy drugs. The only gun recovered at the scene was the Glock 9mm fired by Servin, the Tribune reports.
The Independent P⛦olice Review Authority, which investigates officer-involved shootings, announced six months later that Servin violated department use of force policy by firing into the crowd of four people, including Boyd.
Servin, who was off-duty at the time, also did not identify himself as a cop until he said he saw Cross pull a gun. The agency determined Servin simply had “more reasonable options” to avoid the confrontation, including to call 911 or ignore the gro✃up altogether instead of asking them while driving in an alley to keep quiet, the Tribune reports.
Pleines, who could not be reached by The Post on Thursday, acknowledged that Servin’s attempt to collect disability was unusual, given the fact that the independent police agency found that his actions violated the police department’s use of force guidelines. Despite that, ༒he’s still entitled to make his claim, Pleines told the Tribune.
“Dante Servin is doing nothing other than what the law all✃ows him to do, regarding his resignation,♕ his application for disability and his avoiding being fired by the department,” Pleines said. “Everything he does is sanctioned by Illinois law.”
Martinez Sutton, the brother of Rekia Boyd – whose death ignited criticism against allegations of excessive use of force by Chicago police two years before Laquan McDonald’s death – learned of Servin’s attempt to collect disability pay from the Tribune. He told the newspaper it’s another example of police receiving prot꧂ections that victims simply don’t get.
“Let’s be real. Some of the police officers actually do (face) danger,” Sutton told the newspaper. “This is just a case where (he) wasn’t even close to being in danger. No weapon found. And look at the justice we got.”