'Release Body-Cam Footage Showing Fatal Shooting Of CPD Officer Krystal Rivera:' Court

CHICAGO—An appeals court has lifted an order from a Cook County judge limiting the release of body-cam footage showing the fatal shooting of Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera by a fellow officer.

Rivera’s family is suing the City of Chicago over claims of negligence and her partner, Carlos Baker, who fled an investigatory stop last June. The civil complaint was filed in December 2025 in the Circuit Court of Cook County by Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, on behalf of Yolanda Rivera, Krystal’s mother and administrator of her estate. The complaint alleges that the 36-year-old officer’s death was caused by Baker’s “willful and wanton conduct.”

On Friday, a panel of appellate judges stated Cook County Judge Barbara Dawkins incorrectly denied a motion filed last year by several Chicago media outlets to lift a protective order on the body-cam footage, the Chicago Tribune reported.

While the protective order was lifted, the appellate judges said the city could still withhold the videos on other grounds, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“It is clear that the trial court applied the wrong law to reach its conclusion that it could sua sponte bar the release of public records by a nonparty entity,” the opinion stated. “Nothing in this decision requires the release of the materials named … nor does it bar the parties to the criminal case from filing appropriate motions … if they can show cause for a protective order.”

Rivera’s family maintained her line-of-duty death was entirely preventable. Had Baker been properly disciplined or supervised after 11 misconduct complaints—five as a probationary officer—and possibly had his badge removed, Rivera, the mother of a young child, would be alive today.

Despite raising alarm about Baker to her superiors, Rivera was still partnered with him that fateful evening of June 5, 2025, according to the complaint. Rivera and Baker, assigned to the 6th Gresham Chicago Police District tactical division, had both chased a suspect they believed to be armed into an apartment building in Chatham. Inside the unit, a second person raised a rifle at the officers. As Rivera ran down the hallway to locate the suspect that had fled the investigatory stop, a single shot was fired, striking Rivera in the back.

Chicago police later determined that “the only weapon discharged during the encounter was the officer, whose gunfire unintentionally struck Rivera.”

At the time of Rivera’s death, Baker had allegedly accrued at least 11 misconduct complaints in less than three years on the force—a record worse than 95 percent of Chicago police officers. Baker’s lengthy record of misconduct included domestic violence, improper search and seizure, neglect of duties, insubordination, inadequate/failure to provide service, and conduct unbecoming an officer.

At least five of the allegations are said to have occurred while Baker was still a probationary officer, the officer’s family said in its lawsuit. The city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) closed out one allegation of domestic abuse without reaching a determination. Baker faced no disciplinary action.

Rivera and Baker had also been involved in a brief dating relationship that was known to their superiors in 2023. Rivera ended the relationship after learning that Baker was living with another woman.

Less than 48 hours before she was felled by her partner’s “friendly fire,” Baker is said to have shown up uninvited at Rivera’s home after she told him not to, and it wasn’t the first time, the complaint alleged.

The judge’s order from last year to bar disclosure of the body-cam footage of the officer’s shooting centered around two other men, Aridan Rucker and Jaylin Arnold. Both men face criminal charges of armed violence and other felonies stemming from the events around Rivera’s death.