CHICAGO — The mother of Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera has filed a lawsuit against the department and her police partner — alleging he “left her to die” after shooting her in a botched police chase shortly after Rivera ended their romantic relationship.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed in Cook County court Thursday claims Rivera, 36, planned to tell the live-in girlfriend of her police partner, Officer Carlos Baker, about their “on-and-off romantic relationship” that went on for almost two years. Baker had lied to Rivera, who started to decline his advances, about being romantically involved with someone else, according to the lawsuit.
Baker, 28, showed up at Rivera’s home uninvited the day before her death. On June 5, the two officers were back working together when they chased a man into a Chatman apartment building, where they encountered another armed man. Baker then fired a single fatal shot that hit Rivera in the back.
Baker made an “intentional decision” not to give Rivera medical aid, call for back-up or request an ambulance, attorney Antonio Romanucci, representing Rivera’s mother Yolanda Rivera, said in a press conference Thursday announcing the lawsuit. Instead, Baker “immediately ran to the third floor of the apartment building,” according to the lawsuit. Police officials have previously said he continued to chase the suspect in the building.
Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera was killed by friendly fire from another officer’s weapon on June 5, 2025. Credit: Provided
That left Rivera to radio in her own shooting, but police dispatch could not understand her due to the severity of her wounds, according to the lawsuit. Dispatch eventually requested a backup car at the location where Rivera radioed in.
Responding officers got Rivera into a police car and tried to rush her to a hospital, but they crashed and the car caught fire. Rivera was moved into another car and taken to the hospital, where she died from the gunshot 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,” the lawsuit reads.
The department was aware of Rivera and Baker’s romantic relationship and break-up but kept them on the same tactical team, Romanucci said. That’s despite Rivera previously asking to be reassigned because of concerns that Baker was “reckless,” he said.
The lawsuit claims Rivera was granted a new partner in June 2023, but Baker was reassigned to her specialized tactical team in April 2024. A month later, Baker was removed from the team because of his “lack of years of service,” according to the lawsuit. But around March, he was reassigned to the team — with Rivera as his partner.
“This tragedy was absolutely foreseeable,” Romanucci said. “Not only foreseeable as result of Baker’s willful and wanton conduct, but also because of the city of Chicago’s own negligence with respect to the retention and supervision of Baker.”
The Chicago Police Department has described Rivera’s killing as an accident. A police spokesperson said it would not comment on pending litigation. Baker’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Yolanda Rivera, mother of late Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera’s mother, speaks at a press conference announcing a lawsuit against the department and Rivera’s former partner. Credit: YouTube
Previous Issues On Police Force
Baker was stripped of policing powers in August following a separate case where the department claimed he tried to use his position to obtain surveillance footage of a fight he got into with another female police officer outside a Wicker Park bar.
Baker racked up 11 misconduct complaints in under three years on the force, making him one of the department’s “worst performers,” Romanucci said Thursday. The officer faced five misconduct complaints while he was still on probationary status, a time when he could have more easily been fired, according to the lawsuit.
Romanucci said Baker should have never been a police officer — let alone advanced to the Gresham District tactical team.
The first major warning sign came in 2022, when Baker was accused of flashing a gun at a woman while she was on a date with another man, which Romanucci said should have “ended” his police career. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, Chicago’s police watchdog agency, closed an investigation into the matter “unusually fast” in 3.5 months, according to the lawsuit.
Jennifer Rottner, a spokesperson for the watchdog group, said in a statement sent Thursday the investigation was closed because of a lack of evidence and cooperation from the woman.
In a previous press conference with her attorneys, Yolanda Rivera called on the Chicago Police Department to release body camera and dash cam footage of the incident, as well make public the personnel files on Baker. She also called for Illinois State Police to conduct an independent investigation in the police shooting.
A Chicago police spokesperson said Thursday the Rivera shooting was under the jurisdiction of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. The police watchdog agency still has an open investigation into Rivera’s death, Rottner said in a statement Thursday.
The two men involved in the chase leading to Rivera’s shooting death, including the one who started the chase and the man who pointed a gun at the officers, have been charged in the incident.
Family watches following the funeral for fallen Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera at Living Word Christian Center, 7600 Roosevelt Rd., in Forest Park on June 25, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
‘A Hero To Everyone’
Yolanda Rivera said her daughter comes from a police family but was the first female to join the force, “fulfilling the dream for both of us.”
“Krystal loved protecting the public,” Yolanda Rivera said. “But I can say CPD failed to protect Krystal.”
Rivera, of Irving Park, was a single mother to a young daughter and had been with the Police Department for four years prior to being killed on duty. Rivera was close to her 10-year-old daughter, who told the Sun-Times that her mother gave her a tighter hug than usual before she left for work the day she died.
She was laid to rest in late June in a service attended by hundreds of officers and city officials, who hailed her as a hero and a dedicated mom.
“She was, she is and she always will be a hero to everyone here,” police Supt. Larry Snelling said at the service. “She gave everything to help other people. What a noble thing, from a noble person.”
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