Body-Cam Footage Reveals Officer Rivera's Final Moments

Chicago released body-camera video on April 17 showing Officer Krystal Rivera being fatally shot by her partner during a 2025 foot chase. (chicagocopa.org) The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, said Rivera was killed on June 5, 2025, near 8200 South Drexel after a court order that had blocked release of the records was vacated on March 27, 2026. (chicagocopa.org) Video from Rivera and Officer Carlos Baker shows the two chasing a man into a Chatham apartment building, then confronting a second man who appeared to point a rifle after Baker kicked in a door. (wbez.org) WBEZ and WTTW reported the footage shows Baker firing the shot that struck Rivera, then running up a stairwell and taking more than 90 seconds, or about two minutes, before checking on her. (wbez.org, news.wttw.com) The release ends a 10-month fight over whether the public could see footage tied to Rivera’s death, which prosecutors had described as accidental and which a trial judge had kept sealed in the criminal case against Adrian Rucker. (nbcchicago.com, ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net) In its March 27 order, the Illinois Appellate Court said Cook County Judge Barbara Dawkins applied the wrong law when she barred release of public records by a nonparty agency. The judges said that ruling did not automatically require disclosure, but it removed the blanket block. (patch.com, ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net) Rivera’s family sued Baker and the city in December 2025, alleging he had ignored warning signs, failed to render aid quickly and shot Rivera after she ended a romantic relationship with him. The complaint also said Baker had 11 misconduct complaints, including five while he was a probationary officer. (news.wttw.com, patch.com) Baker’s lawyer, Tim Grace, said Friday that the video shows his client “did everything in his power and training” to help Rivera and that the gunfire was unintentional. Grace said two armed men inside the building set the chain of events in motion by fleeing police and pointing a rifle at the officers. (news.wttw.com) Two men were charged after the chase, including Jaylin Arnold, 27, who prosecutors said was armed when officers approached him, and Adrian Rucker, whose case was tied to the protective order that delayed the video’s release. COPA said its investigation into Rivera’s death is still open. (abc7chicago.com, chicagocopa.org) The footage answers the narrow question of what happened in the hallway on South Drexel, but it leaves the legal questions to COPA, the civil courts and the still-pending criminal cases. (chicagocopa.org, nbcchicago.com)