CHICAGO — The city’s police watchdog agency has released video from the June killing of Officer Krystal Rivera.
The videos — released Friday — are part of a highly controversial case, as Rivera was killed by “friendly fire.” Her family has alleged in a lawsuit that Rivera and her partner, Officer Carlos Baker, had a failed romantic relationship, and he shot her during a foot chase and then intentionally did not help her.
Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera with her mother. Credit: Provided
The Police Department has previously described Rivera’s killing as an accident. The agency relieved Baker of his police powers in mid-August in a separate case, but he still works with the department in a desk position.
“Our hearts remain with fallen Officer Krystal Rivera’s family,” a police spokesperson said in a Friday statement. “These videos are difficult to watch, and we remind members of the public that there is an active Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) investigation, which CPD continues to cooperate with.”
The police spokesperson declined to comment further.
The videos show the moments leading up to Baker fatally shooting Rivera, as well as some of the aftermath.
The shooting happened June 5 in Chatham. Rivera and Baker chased a man into an apartment building in the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue and encountered a second man, who was armed, inside, police have previously said.
Baker’s body-camera video shows Rivera and Baker chase a man into an apartment building, running upstairs, with Baker ahead of Rivera.
The man enters an apartment and closes the door. Baker kicks open the door as a man jumps over a couch inside the apartment; another man can be seen standing in the apartment, apparently pointing something that appears to be a gun toward the door.
Baker quickly spins around and says, “Wait.” He fires a shot. Rivera can be seen coming down the hallway toward the apartment. He appears to fall.
A woman’s scream can be heard when the shot goes off.
WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE: Baker’s body-camera video:
Baker then sprints up the stairs while screaming, “Shots fired at the police.” Baker stops at the top of the stairs above the suspect’s apartment and appears to sit.
“Krystal, you good?” Baker yells about 25 seconds after he fired a shot. Rivera cannot be heard responding.
Over the police radio, someone says, “We have a 10-1. We need an ambulance.”
Baker then says into his radio, “We need an ambulance. Ambulance now. I can’t get my partner.” He walks down a few stairs, appears to sit again and says, “Squad, my partner’s hit. My partner’s hit. Get me an ambulance now.”
Baker again says he cannot get to his partner and calls for a SWAT team.
Video from inside the apartment:
The door to the apartment unit is open, and no activity is visible. Another camera from inside the unit shows the people inside the apartment immediately ran into another room after Baker kicked in the door.
Baker tells another person in the building to call police, then goes down the stairs. He appears to look into the open apartment unit, where no one is visible.
Almost two minutes after Baker shot Rivera, he goes to her. The video shows her bleeding on the floor. He does not check her vitals.
Baker drags Rivera’s body toward and then down the stairs toward the building’s front door, saying, “Stay with me.”
Other officers arrive, and Baker — his gun still out — tells them to take Rivera to the hospital while he steps over her body and goes up the stairs. Other officers go to Rivera’s body. His body-camera video ends.
A body-camera video from Rivera shows her and Baker chase a man into the building, with Baker in front of Rivera. Baker kicks in a door and appears to quickly turn around, toward Rivera. A gunshot is heard as Rivera also spins around and falls to the floor; someone appears to scream. Rivera’s video ends.
Rivera’s body-camera video:
Lawsuit Against Partner
Rivera, 36 of Irving Park, was a mother of a young daughter and had been with the Police Department for four years, Supt. Larry Snelling said shortly after she was killed.
Rivera was “young, vibrant and a hard worker,” Snelling said.
Rivera’s mother, Yolanda Rivera, said her daughter was the “light of my life.” The family filed a lawsuit against Baker and the Police Department in December, alleging Baker and Rivera had an “on-and-off romantic relationship” for about two years.
“Krystal loved protecting the public,” Yolanda Rivera previously said. “But I can say CPD failed to protect Krystal.”
The day before Baker killed Rivera, he went to her home uninvited, according to the lawsuit. Then, on June 5, he shot Rivera in her back when the two came upon the armed man in the Chatham apartment building.
The lawsuit alleges Baker made an “intentional decision” not to help Rivera, saying he did not give her medical aid, call for backup or call for an ambulance. He “immediately ran” to the apartment building’s third floor, while Rivera tried to radio in to request help for her own shooting, according to the lawsuit.
Officers had trouble understanding Rivera due to her wound, according to the lawsuit.
Body-cam video does show Baker call for backup almost immediately, but he does not render aid or leave his upstairs perch.
The officers put Rivera into a car and tried to drive her to the hospital, but they crashed and the police car caught fire. Rivera was put in another car and taken to the hospital, but she died from her wound.
“Baker’s failure to render aid to Rivera was motivated by Baker’s knowledge that Rivera’s death would prevent her from making disclosures that would likely destroy his relationship with his long-term girlfriend,” Rivera’s family alleges in the lawsuit.
Baker had a problematic history with the force, having gotten 11 complaints in less than three years and having been reported for showing a gun to a woman who was on a date with another man in 2022, according to the lawsuit.
Baker first applied to join a tactical team in spring 2024, but Chief of Patrol Jon rejected his application because of Baker’s disciplinary record, according to the Illinois Answers Project.
Just a few weeks after that rejection, Baker “inadvertently” fired his Taser after chasing an 18-year-old at high speeds, leading to a seven-car crash — though Baker and his partner at the time didn’t notify anyone they were in the chase until afterward, according to the Illinois Answers Project.
Despite that, Baker applied again for a tactical team in January 2025, and Hein approved it, according to the Illinois Answers Project. He shot Rivera just three months after becoming part of the team.
In August, Baker was stripped of his police powers after trying to use his position as an officer to get video of a fight he’d had with a female police officer outside a Wicker Park bar, the Police Department has claimed.
Baker still works with the department in the Alternate Response Section, where officers stripped of their police powers or not medically cleared for full duty answer non-emergency calls, according to the Sun-Times.
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