Cop Who Shot Krystal Rivera Waited 2 Minutes to Help Her

Body-camera footage released Friday shows the Chicago police officer who shot his partner, Krystal Rivera, waited nearly two minutes before rendering aid after the June 5 killing in Chatham.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability released three videos showing Officer Carlos Baker shoot Rivera during a foot chase at 8200 South Drexel Avenue, then sprint up a flight of stairs and stay there rather than help her. Baker yelled “Krystal, you good?” roughly 25 seconds after firing the shot. Rivera didn’t answer.

She didn’t survive.

COPA, which investigates all incidents where Chicago police use deadly force, is still probing the shooting. The department has called the killing an accident. Rivera’s family has a different view.

In a lawsuit, the family alleges Baker and Rivera had a failed romantic relationship and that he shot her intentionally during the chase, then deliberately withheld help. The videos released Friday don’t settle the question of intent, but they document in graphic detail what Baker did, and didn’t do, in the minutes after Rivera went down.

Baker’s body-camera footage shows the two officers chasing a man into an apartment building and running upstairs, with Baker ahead of Rivera. Baker repeatedly yells at the man to drop a weapon. The suspect enters an apartment and closes the door. Baker kicks it open. A security camera inside the apartment captures what happens next: a second person runs into another room, returns holding what appears to be a weapon with both hands, and points it toward the door before both men quickly flee the room.

Baker spins around in the entryway and says, “Wait.” He fires. He appears to fall. Rivera had been coming down the hallway toward the apartment.

A woman’s scream follows the gunshot.

Baker then sprints upstairs, away from Rivera, screaming “Shots fired at the police.” He stops at the top of the stairs above the suspect’s apartment and appears to sit down. Twenty-five seconds later he calls out to Rivera. No response comes back over the video.

The footage, reported by Block Club Chicago, shows Baker waited close to two minutes before going to Rivera’s aid.

CPD stripped Baker of his police powers in mid-August in connection with a separate case. He still works a desk position inside the department. No criminal charges have been filed against him in connection with Rivera’s death.

“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 COPA investigation, which CPD continues to cooperate with.”

The spokesperson declined to say more.

COPA’s ongoing investigation will determine whether Baker violated department policy. Under CPD use-of-force guidelines, officers are required to render aid as soon as it’s safe to do so following a shooting. The Rivera family’s lawsuit argues Baker didn’t meet that threshold, and that his delay cost her critical minutes.

Chatham, on the South Side, is the kind of neighborhood Rivera’s family says she was proud to serve. She grew up on the South Side herself. Her mother has appeared publicly at memorials and press events, pushing for accountability in a case that the department spent months framing as a tragic accident.

The accident framing hasn’t held up cleanly under scrutiny. The family’s lawsuit introduced allegations about the relationship between Baker and Rivera months ago, and Friday’s footage release marks the first time the public can see for itself what the body cameras and the apartment’s security system recorded.

Baker’s attorney has not publicly responded to the footage. CPD did not name the attorney or provide contact information in Friday’s statement.

Rivera’s family attorney was not quoted in the department’s statement or identified in the materials COPA released alongside the video.

What’s next is straightforward, at least procedurally. COPA will complete its investigation and issue findings. The department will respond to those findings. Whether Baker faces discipline, termination, or criminal referral depends on what COPA concludes. Chicago’s Police Board would then handle any termination proceedings if the superintendent recommends them.

Rivera’s family, meanwhile, still has an active civil lawsuit pending in Cook County.