Bucking policy trend, public access to video of CPD Officer Krystal Rivera's fatal shooting is delayed
Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the department, was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow officer on June 5 after a confrontation with an armed suspect.
The tragic slaying of the officer, who will be laid to rest on Wednesday, happened amid long-brewing debates about the safety of foot pursuits and is sure to raise questions about training and officer safety in general.
But the court order, signed June 13 by Judge Deidre Dyer, delays the public's access to critical information about the matter, even though long-held public policy since the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald favors timely access to video that can shed light on officer-involved shootings.
Though it's not uncommon for video to be restricted from public view while an investigation or prosecution is proceeding, legal experts and advocates for transparency raised concerns about the move, especially if such orders are being sought by the state and granted by judges without a thorough examination of balance between the integrity of the case and the public's right to know how their government is functioning.
Multiple legal experts noted that the motion, filed by the prosecutor's office on June 13, referenced federal exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act rather than the state's companion law that would govern it.
'There is a big picture concern that the default role of transparency is being flipped on its head whenever there is a criminal case,' said Craig Futterman, a clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. 'I have a fear that these motions are being filed and orders are being entered without a particularized interrogation that was envisioned under the FOIA statute.'
In response to questions from the Tribune, a spokesperson for the state's attorney's office said it does not comment on pending litigation. Requests for comment from the city were not returned by deadline.
Throughout the past decade, video from police body-worn cameras and other sources has become a critical check on official narratives about police shootings after the release of such material became policy following the murder of 17-year-old McDonald at the hands of former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke.
The dashcam video of the shooting captured Van Dyke, who served a little more than three years in prison, shooting the teenager 16 times as he walked away. The video contradicted the accounts of police and led to a rare murder charge against Van Dyke.
With the fight over the release of the dashcam video still fresh in the city's mind, the newly formulated Civilian Office of Police Accountability instituted a policy to publish CPD body-worn camera footage and related police records within 60 days of a police shooting. The agency replaced the Independent Police Review Authority after the McDonald video was released in 2015.
COPA's policy, though, has exceptions and cannot supersede a judge's order.
Experts said they believe the policy to release videos has rebuilt some public trust, but raised concerns about it backsliding if videos are routinely shielded by judges.
'We would be back to the days of pre-Laquan McDonald,' said Matt Topic, a partner at the civil rights firm Loevy and Loevy who litigated for the release of the dashcam video of McDonald's shooting. 'We would be back to not knowing if what police are telling us is true or not.'
In a criminal case related to Rivera's death, Adrian Rucker, 25, is charged with armed violence and other felonies. Prosecutors alleged that Rucker pointed an AR-style pistol after Rivera and her partner followed another suspect into the apartment.
Prosecutors later charged a second man, Jaylin Arnold, 27.
In the motion to withhold release of the video and other materials filed in Rucker's case, Cook County prosecutors argued that the release could interfere with enforcement proceedings and a defendant's right to a fair trial.
Futterman pointed out that usually defense attorneys would be the party that makes arguments about their clients' due process rights.
The judge's order bars release until 'further order of the court.'
In a statement, a COPA spokesperson said: 'The materials will be available under FOIA once the court order is lifted. Until then, COPA is prohibited from releasing them.'
It's not clear, though, when and how the order may be lifted.
'Someone would have to incur the time and expense to vacate that order unless we think the state's attorney would move to vacate,' Topic said.
Stephanie Holmes Didwania, an associate professor of law at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, said federal and state Freedom of Information laws have 'a strong preference for disclosure.'
'It's designed to allow the public to be adequately informed about what their government is doing,' she said.
Holmes Didwania noted, though, that the laws have exceptions, and that law enforcement can have legitimate interests in keeping investigations confidential. She said prosecutors could be concerned about issues like the video shaping the accounts of witnesses who have yet to be interviewed.
'The statute itself is trying to balance these two competing interests,' she said, though she added that Illinois' FOIA statute requires the government to provide clear and convincing evidence to support an exemption from the law.
Loren Jones, director of the Criminal Legal Systems Program at Impact for Equity, said that the government should be held to a high standard in overcoming public access laws related to police shootings.
'When there is a case that is as complicated and tragic as this case, I think the standard for the balance that we have to take into account here and overcome is really high,' she said. 'It's important to keep our foot on the pedal as far as ensuring that … our government is being transparent as possible in these situations.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
4 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Video of Merrillville woman's arrest by Lake County Sheriff's Department shows excessive force before miscarriage, lawyer says
A Merrillville woman's lawyer said recently released bodycam footage backs up her accusations that Lake County Sheriff's deputies forcibly pulled her from a vehicle during an arrest despite knowing she was pregnant. Three months later, she had a miscarriage. I'm '(expletive) pregnant,' Shikeia Randolph, 31, yells just before two officers pull her from a red Chevrolet Trailblazer, according to video obtained by the Post-Tribune through a public records request. A federal lawsuit accusing the officers of excessive force was filed two months ago in the U.S. District Court in Hammond. It alleges that a 3:24 a.m. traffic stop on June 5, 2023 was 'pretextual' — for an issue with a license plate cover, then a school truancy warrant — and quickly spiraled out of control. The video from an officer's dashboard camera appears to show, as she is arrested, the two officers turn her on her stomach as one pins her down to handcuff her hands behind her back. Randolph previously told the Post-Tribune she had just stopped for milk at a 24-hour gas station in Gary near Ridge Road and Grant Street with her four kids in the vehicle. She was supposed to drop them off at her mother's house, then head to her early shift as a receptionist at the Gary Housing Authority. Officer Peter Hamady, who pulled her over, is named with the sheriff's department in the lawsuit. His lawyer Casey McCloskey declined comment. In a federal filing on Aug. 7, McCloskey formally denied the accusations against Hamady, saying in part that his actions were 'objectively reasonable' and protected by 'qualified immunity.' Some of Randolph's claims could fall outside of a two-year statute of limitations, he wrote. McCloskey argued because Randolph refused to get out of her SUV, she forced cops to go after her, according to court documents. She disputed this, in interviews with the Post-Tribune. On the way to booking, Randolph tells Hamady the truancy case in Merrillville Town Court was for taking her daughter repeatedly to school a little late when she was in pain from just having another baby, according to footage recorded inside Hamady's police car. He appears to soften. 'I didn't know they had warrants for that,' he said in the footage. In an interview, Matthew Custardo, Randolph's lawyer in the federal lawsuit, argued the use of force was unjustified, even if she was arguing with the cops. 'She was confused why she was being pulled over,' he said. 'She's scared. She has every reason to be a little concerned about what's going on. She's standing up for herself, certainly.' According to the nearly 40-minute bodycam video, police officers tell her to call someone to pick up the kids, so they don't have to call child protective services. Originally, Randolph said she thought it might have been a warrant for an old driving while suspended case. 'Call CPS for what?' she responds in the video. 'A warrant for a suspended license?' 'It's not for that,' Hamady tells her in the footage. After she asks again, he says it's for truancy. 'Listen, you have a warrant,' Hamady said in the video. 'You're lucky I don't have you cuffed out of the car right now. You wanna go that route?' In the video, she accuses Hamady of pulling out of a nearby parking lot before she passed him. 'Ma'am, I was behind you,' he responded in the footage. At least three other officers are in view. 'I'm taking you to court,' she the phone, Randolph tells her mother the '(expletive) police' pulled her over as she asked her to get her kids, according to the video. She asks officers to wait until her mother arrives. 'I guess they are going to take me to jail,' she said over the phone in the footage. Randolph said in a previous interview with the Post-Tribune that the encounter appeared to escalate when she rolled up her window slightly to hear what her mom was saying. The arrest happens within about 12 minutes into the footage. As officers open her car door and grab her arm, Randolph's children can be heard crying in the back seat. 'This is your last warning,' one of the officers said in the video. 'We don't want your kids to see this.' 'You already freaked my kids out,' she said. 'Get out of the (expletive) car,' one officer stated in the footage. I'm '(expletive) pregnant,' she yells just before two officers pull her from the vehicle after she tried to cling to the steering wheel in the video. 'Let me go! Get off of me! Please get off of me! Somebody help me!' After she is handcuffed on the ground, a police dog is seen in the background of the dashboard camera footage. Randolph's white shoes are scattered nearby. 'I'm trying to help you out here,' one officer tells her in the video. Randolph was charged with resisting law enforcement two months later. Hamady's account in court documents makes no mention of her pregnancy. During the ride to booking at the Lake County Jail, they talk at length about her decision to have a fifth child, according to footage inside the police car. Her fiancé wanted one last child, she said. When Hamady asks how far along she is on the video, she responds she's nearly 12 weeks pregnant. 'Well, congrats to you,' he said in the video. Hamady stated in the footage that her bond should be $400. It's 'not Friday, so it's a good thing,' he tells her in the video. 'I'll make sure they keep you updated.' He asks if she's comfortable as late-'90s era music plays over the radio, the footage shows, before they chat about where she is planning to get married. Do you 'want the window open back there, or are you good?' he asks in the video. Since police insisted on towing her red Chevrolet Trailblazer, Randolph's mother had to take four kids back in a cramped sedan, a situation that was not likely 'legally safe,' Custardo said. Randolph's lawsuit alleged her arrest suggested a 'broader pattern' in the Lake County Sheriff's Department, including 'inadequate training,' 'insufficient supervision' and a 'failure to implement effective accountability measures,' according to court documents. The Lake County Sheriff's Department refused to answer questions related to the incident, including what kind of de-escalation training its officers receive at various stages in their careers. Hamady joined the department in 2022, according to court filings. Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. declined comment through a spokeswoman, who said he could not discuss pending litigation. Watching the video with her mother was 'very emotional,' Randolph said in an Aug. 5 interview, especially hearing her kids crying in the video's background. She refused to let her 12-year-old daughter view it. 'I feel better now that I've seen it,' Randolph said. 'It matches the exact story I've been telling for so long.' There's been some 'expected' backlash online after a pair of articles in local newspapers, Randolph said. She was there trying to protect herself and her Williams, her criminal public defender, said she did remember parts of the case in retrospect, and confirmed she tried to get the bodycam from the Lake County Sheriff's Department 'multiple times' since the case was filed in August 2023. Court filings show one discovery request for the body cam was made as late as October 2024. The only reason not to turn it over was if they 'didn't want me to see something,' she said. Randolph was tired of repeatedly coming to court for a slow-moving case, Williams said. She told her client that she could fight to get the bodycam footage, or take a pretrial diversion to get rid of the case in a year. 'It's common to get slow discovery (evidence) when you're requesting bodycams,' Williams said, adding that some police departments are worse than others, but she's had 'good experience' with the sheriff's department in the past. Randolph's case is scheduled for a pretrial diversion hearing on Aug. 15. However, an automatic court filing on Aug. 11 appears to show there may be a snag. Court filings show Randolph, her fiancé and sister were charged June 26 with resisting law enforcement in Hobart. Hobart Police Cpl. Christopher Sipes wrote that Randolph and her fiancé got his attention around 1:30 a.m. May 25 on Main Street for ignoring a 'pedestrian signal.' , Randolph said they were out that night celebrating her fiancé's birthday. As End Zone let out across the street, a crowd, including the half-dozen in her group, were migrating to the other bar, Randolph said. At least two officers were there, as someone behind them yelled something about the guy handcuffed on the ground getting arrested nearby. The officer thought her fiancé said something, she said. Sipes wrote he and the other officer followed them into Cagney's. 'Bulls jersey, stop right there,' the other officer said to Randolph's fiancé, according to court records. As they got to the bar, Randolph said an officer grabbed her arm from behind. According to court documents, when the officer asked for identification, the couple 'ignored' him and said they 'didn't do anything.' Randolph 'stepped in front' of officers to block them from her fiance. As the cops went to arrest them just inside the bar's entrance, the crowd 'became aggressive,' the officer wrote. During a 'struggle' as she was being handcuffed, Randolph's black strapless top fell down, exposing her breasts, records state. Randolph said in an interview she tried to turn away for some privacy, because there were a 'million people standing around.' Once she stood up, an officer wrote, he pulled her top back up, records state. She denied she got in their way or refused to give her identification card. The officer was bigger than her, and it didn't make sense that she could overpower him. The whole incident was 'very unfortunate,' her lawyer Patrick Young said Aug. 7, adding he's working with prosecutors to resolve the case.
Chicago Tribune
9 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Ozzy Osbourne sings seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 17, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) Vintage Chicago Tribune: Our grand, old flag1915: Lucy Derwent of Rockford won a $25 prize (almost $800 in today's dollars) from the Daughters of the American Revolution for her design of a state flag for Illinois — a field of blue on which a circle of white bears the state's coat of arms. Derwent, who later lived in the Chicago area, presented her prize to the Rockford chapter of the D.A.R. 1970: 'Soul Train' premiered in Chicago on WCIU-TV with a budget so tight it couldn't afford color cameras or a dance floor bigger than a typical living room. But the show was an instant hit in Chicago, and it started consuming the after-school viewing time of a young, African American audience that other teen-oriented shows, including Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand,' largely ignored. 1984: One person died and 47 were injured when two Chicago Transit Authority rapid transit trains collided at Montrose Avenue station on the O'Hare Line. 2003: Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon Osbourne sang 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game' during the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field. Near the end of the broadcast, WGN-Ch. 9 showed a replay of legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully giving the thumbs up after Osbourne's rendition. 'If you get the seal of approval from Hall of Famer Vin Scully, you know you're doing OK,' Cubs announcer Chip Caray said. 2010: After 14 days of deliberations, a six-man, six-woman jury convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on just one of the 24 felony counts he faced — a charge that he had lied to FBI agents about his intense involvement in campaign fundraising. At his second trial, in 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on the more widespread allegations, including the Senate seat charges, trying to shake down a children's hospital leader in exchange for sending money approved for pediatric services, and seeking a $100,000 contribution from a horse track owner in exchange for signing favorable legislation. In 2020, President Donald Trump, a Republican later convicted of felonies himself, commuted Blagojevich's 14-year sentence to about eight years served. How many presidential pardons or sentence commutations have been granted to people from Illinois?Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Illinois' rental assistance program has restarted. Here's what you need to know.
Struggling to pay your rent? Need to get paid for rent you are owed? There's a solution for those issues again after a two-month hiatus: Illinois' court-based rental assistance program reopened on July 31. While the program saw a third of its funds wiped away for the 2026 fiscal year that began July 1, $50 million in state funds are available. The reduction came as rents in Chicago keep rising and after the state grappled with serious fiscal challenges when balancing its budget this year, issues exacerbated by a federal government focused on axing spending. State lawmakers cut spending in various areas beyond housing as well. The state rental assistance program was previously funded by federal aid distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on helping tenants experiencing COVID-19-related hardships and at risk of eviction. The program has helped tens of thousands of renters and landlords since its inception in 2020. In the 2025 fiscal year, the inaugural year as a state-funded effort, more than $63 million in aid was distributed to help more than 7,680 families facing eviction. Around 39% of aided households were extremely low income, earning less than $36,000 a year for a household of four, the state said. The need was greater than the Illinois Housing Development Authority, the group in charge of administering the funds, expected, the agency said, which is why the program closed about three weeks before the end of the last fiscal year. Eviction filings in Cook County have hovered around pre-pandemic levels since 2022. Here's what you need to know about the state's court-based rental assistance program: Eligible tenants have to make 80% or less of the area median income and do not have to be facing a COVID-19-related hardship. For a household of four in Chicago, the income eligibility threshold is $95,900 or less, according to the Chicago Department of Housing's area median income calculations. For this year's round of assistance, the state said tenants will be ineligible if they have received aid in the last 18 months. Renters do not have to prove their citizenship status and must have an active eviction case due to nonpayment of rent to qualify. Housing providers are not allowed to evict tenants during the grant's coverage period for nonpayment of rent. For tenants whose landlords are unwilling to participate in the program, the state offers up to two months of future rent payments to help them find a new place to live. Renters in Chicago and Cook County maintain the right to stay in their homes if they pay their debts in full to their landlord at any time before an official eviction order is filed. Tenants and landlords can receive up to $10,000 in rental assistance per eviction case. This is a reduction from last year's $15,000 ceiling when the program was better funded. Kristin Faust, the Illinois Housing Development Authority's executive director, previously told the Tribune this decision was made based on data from last year's program and conversations with legal aid, tenants and landlords. The average grant amount last year was around $8,300, or eight months of rent. The authority estimates about 6,500 households will be able to receive assistance this year. The money can go toward paying past-due rent, up to $700 in court costs — up from $500 last year — and up to two months of future rent. To apply for the Illinois Court-Based Rental Assistance Program, go to The court-based rental assistance program is just one aspect of the state's eviction diversion program, known formally as the Early Resolution Program. Tenants and small landlords can also receive legal aid to help settle eviction cases before they go to trial. Those resources can be found at or by calling (855) 956-5763. The central hub for eviction help in the state is a website called Eviction Help Illinois: There are also separate rental assistance dollars allocated to the Illinois Department of Human Services, with $89.5 million total (including the $50 million court-based program) earmarked to support those efforts this fiscal year, the state said. More information for IDHS housing support programs can be found here: A three-year Chicago pilot program aiding low-income households with legal representation was recently extended through the end of the year thanks to carryover funds from its initial grant (federal stimulus money from the pandemic era) and city dollars, said Michelle Gilbert, legal and policy director for Law Center for Better Housing, one of the organizations involved in the program. The city will need to appropriate more funds in next year's budget (starting Jan. 1, 2026) for the program to continue.
