Cop's Final Moments on Bodycam

Chicago’s police watchdog released body-camera video on April 17 showing Officer Krystal Rivera being fatally shot by her partner during a June 5, 2025 chase. (chicagocopa.org) The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said Rivera was killed near 8200 South Drexel after officers pursued a suspect into a Chatham apartment building. NBC Chicago reported Rivera was 36 and that Officer Carlos Baker was the partner seen on the footage. (chicagocopa.org) (nbcchicago.com) Video described by NBC Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times shows Baker chasing Adrian Rucker up the stairs, kicking in a door, and firing after a second man inside raised what appeared to be a rifle. Rivera was behind Baker in the hallway when the shot hit her. (nbcchicago.com) (chicago.suntimes.com) The footage became public only after an Illinois Appellate Court panel reversed a Cook County judge’s protective order on March 27, 2026. COPA said a June 13, 2025 order in *People v. Adrian Rucker* had blocked release for more than nine months. (patch.com) (chicagocopa.org) (ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net) In that March 27 order, the appellate court said the trial judge had applied “the wrong law” in barring a nonparty agency from releasing public records. The judges also said their ruling did not automatically require release of every record and left room for new motions for protection. (patch.com) (ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net) The newly public video also sharpened scrutiny of Baker’s actions after the shot. The Sun-Times reported he ran up a stairwell, called in “shots fired at the police,” and took more than 90 seconds before checking on Rivera as she gasped for breath. (chicago.suntimes.com) Prosecutors have treated Rivera’s death as accidental, according to NBC Chicago. Rivera’s family has taken the opposite view in court, filing a wrongful-death suit in December 2025 that alleges Baker acted with “willful and wanton conduct.” (nbcchicago.com) (patch.com) That lawsuit also says Rivera had warned supervisors about Baker and that the two had previously been in a romantic relationship. The Sun-Times reported Baker told investigators he “would never” intentionally shoot Rivera and said he did not realize he had fired the fatal round until later. (patch.com) (chicago.suntimes.com) COPA said it released body-worn camera files, third-party video, emergency radio transmissions, tactical response reports and case reports in the Rivera investigation. The video now sits at the center of two fights at once: what happened in that hallway on June 5, 2025, and whether Chicago police records can stay sealed when the officer who died was shot by another officer. (chicagocopa.org) (nbcchicago.com)