Bodycam Shows Officer Rivera's Final Moments

Body-camera video released on April 17 shows Chicago Officer Krystal Rivera being fatally shot by her partner during a June 5, 2025 foot chase in Chatham. (chicagocopa.org) The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, published the footage more than 10 months after the shooting. NBC Chicago reported the video became public after an Illinois appellate court overturned a lower-court order that had blocked release. (nbcchicago.com) Video reviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times shows Officer Carlos Baker and Rivera chasing an armed man into an apartment building on the 8200 block of South Drexel. After Baker kicked in a door, a second man appeared with a rifle, Baker turned, and Rivera was shot. (chicago.suntimes.com) The same footage shows Baker running up a stairwell and taking cover for about 90 seconds before checking on Rivera. WTTW reported Baker waited about two minutes before responding to her as she lay wounded. (news.wttw.com, chicago.suntimes.com) Cook County prosecutors have described Rivera’s death as an accidental shooting during the pursuit. Baker told investigators he did not realize he had fired the fatal shot until later, after checking his weapon at Area 2 detective headquarters, according to the Sun-Times. (nbcchicago.com, chicago.suntimes.com) The release matters in part because the footage had been sealed during the criminal cases against Adrian Rucker and Jaylin Arnold, the two men charged in the events surrounding the chase. The appellate panel said the trial court used the wrong law when it barred disclosure by a nonparty agency. (yahoo.com) Rivera’s family had already sued Baker and the Chicago Police Department in December 2025. The lawsuit says Rivera, 36, had ended a two-year on-and-off relationship with Baker about a month before her death and had asked for a transfer or new partner because she considered him reckless. (nbcchicago.com, abc7chicago.com) Baker has not been criminally charged in Rivera’s death. The Sun-Times and NBC Chicago reported that Chicago police stripped him of police powers in August 2025, though those reports said the move was tied to a separate alleged off-duty incident, not the shooting itself. (chicago.suntimes.com, nbcchicago.com) COPA said it released the videos and related materials after the March 27, 2026 court ruling vacated the protective order. The footage now sits at the center of the family’s civil case and the public record of Rivera’s final minutes. (chicagocopa.org, yahoo.com)