Before Laquan McDonald or Quintonio LeGrier were killed by Chicago police officers, the murder of Rekia Boyd was the primary focus of many concerned citizens within the Chicago community. Boyd was shot in the back of the head by police officer Dante Servin after he shot into a crowd in 2012. He was acquitted of a charge of involuntarily manslaughter this past April in a very controversial case.

After claiming the city of Chicago denied them access to the records investigating Boyd’s death, her brother, Martinez Sutton, and Black Lives Matter have come together  to take legal action and sue the Independent Police Review Authority.

“It’s been under investigation for four years,” Sutton said at a public speaking event. “I want to see what’s going on. What are y’all investigating? Why is it taking four years?”

“There is tremendous public interest in knowing whether IPRA should have previously disciplined Servin. It is likely that the legal defense funding that the city has recently allocated fighting other FOIA requests in cases, far exceeds the labor costs necessary for IPRA to comply with this one request,” said Jason Tompkins of Black Lives Matter, according to ABC7.

As of now, Dante Servin is still on staff with the Chicago Police Department but is assigned to a desk job. Many feel that State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez should’ve charged Servin with murder instead of involuntary manslaughter, which he was acquitted of on a technicality. The charge was mainly struck down because it was argued that if Servin aimed his gun with the intent to hit a specific target, even if it were pointed at a group of people, he wasn’t doing it with reckless intent.

Photo Credit: Family Photo (Rekia Boyd)