Crime & Law

‘I Need to Know the Truth’: Krystal Rivera’s Family Calls for Additional Investigation After Officer Fatally Shot by Partner

The parents of Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera are calling for “full transparency,” including an independent investigation and the release of all available body camera footage, weeks after their daughter was mistakenly shot and killed by her partner.

“I need to understand what happened that night,” Rivera’s mother, Yolanda Rivera, said Wednesday. “I need to know the truth.”

Krystal Rivera, a 36-year-old mother and four-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, was unintentionally shot by her partner, Officer Carlos A. Baker, during a foot pursuit in Chatham on June 5, authorities said. She was laid to rest following a funeral last week.

The family’s attorney, Antonio Romanucci, on Wednesday criticized the Chicago Police Department’s narrative of the incident thus far, saying something “isn’t right” about Rivera’s death.

“It does not yet pass the smell test,” Romanucci said during a news conference. “We have many questions that need to be answered.”

The incident is currently under investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, which investigates officer use-of-force incidents. A spokesperson for the agency added that COPA routinely notifies the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office any time an officer discharges their firearm, and did so in this case.

But Rivera’s family called for a separate investigation into the shooting led by the Illinois State Police and sought to pressure Chicago police officials to publish the not-yet-available body and dash camera footage from the fatal shooting.

Two men — 27-year-old Jaylin Arnold and 25-year-old Adrian Rucker — have been arrested and charged in connection with the incident that led to Rivera’s death.

According to Cook County prosecutors, Rivera and her partner observed Arnold walking with “an unusually large bulge” under his jacket allegedly consistent with a drum magazine. When he looked at the officers, Rivera took off running, followed by police, prosecutors said.

Arnold fled into a nearby apartment building, where he was buzzed in by Rucker. The officers made it inside seconds later, where Rivera’s partner allegedly saw Rucker standing behind a couch pointing a firearm at him.

Prosecutors said Rivera’s partner then “accidentally discharged” his firearm, striking and killing Rivera. No other shots were fired during the encounter.

Romanucci on Wednesday argued that Baker shouldn’t have even been with the police department at all, as the Chicago Sun-Times and the Illinois Answers Project reported he racked up three suspensions and two reprimands since becoming an officer in 2021.

That included an incident during Baker’s time as a probationary officer in which he allegedly brandished a firearm at a woman whom he’d met online while she was on a date with another man, according to the Sun-Times and the Illinois Answers Project.

Romanucci said that should have been a “career killer.”

“Now that the funeral is over, CPD’s loyalty seems to have shifted with the officer who fired the deadly shots and not with Officer Rivera,” Romanucci said.

Baker’s attorney, Tim Grace, declined to address Romanucci’s comments, but said in an emailed statement that his client “has served this City with honor and distinction and has a very minor disciplinary history for an officer with similar time on the job and one who is deployed to higher crime districts.”

Grace called Rivera’s death a “tragic accident” and added that there has been no indication that Baker is under any criminal investigation.

“Officer Baker is heartbroken over what happened on that night and will privately process his grief,” Grace said. “The focus should not be on second guessing each tactical decision made but rather on the profound loss of a great police officer and equally great person in Officer Rivera.”

The CPD has allowed Rivera’s family to view portions of officer-worn body camera footage from the shooting, but those videos are not yet public, as a Cook County judge last month ordered that those materials be withheld for now.

The CPD in a statement Wednesday reiterated that the shooting remains under COPA’s jurisdiction, while the officer involved was placed on routine administrative duties for a minimum period of 30 days.

Romanucci, though, noted that those 30 days are almost up and it’s not yet clear whether Baker will be allowed to immediately return to active duty.

“We haven’t heard anything,” Romanucci said. “By Friday or Saturday, he could be back on the streets patrolling.”

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