The family of slain police officer Krystal Rivera filed a wrongful death suit Thursday morning against the department and the city and police officer Carlos Baker, alleging that more could have been done to protect her from her work partner who they also say was her former romantic partner.
“What she never should have had to fear was her own partner, that betrayal cost Krystal’s life,” said Rivera’s mother Yolanda at a news conference.
The 37-page lawsuit sheds new light on what allegedly happened on the night of June 5, 2025 when Rivera was shot to death by Baker while they pursued a suspect.
According to the slain officer’s family, she and Baker had been in a romantic relationship that Rivera ended only a month before she was killed. Attorney Antonio Romanucci said Rivera broke off the two-year, on and off relationship because she found out that Baker was living with another woman at the same time.
According to NBC 5 Investigates, Baker also had been brought up on charges a total of 24 times during his three years on the force. While many were considered unfounded, administratively closed, or expunged, he was suspended for a civil rights violation in 2023 and was reprimanded on several occasions.
Romanucci said Rivera had gone to her superiors to complain about her Baker’s recklessness, requesting a new partner.
“The Chicago Police Department knew that officer Carlos Baker was a liability. The Chicago Police Department knew that Carlos Baker was unfit for duty as a Chicago police officer,” Romanucci said.
On the night Rivera was killed, attorneys claim she was standing behind Baker when he kicked down a door in a building on the 8200 block of South Drexel.
Somehow, the lawsuit alleges, he turned 180 degrees and shot her in the back, but he didn’t immediately call for help for his wounded partner.
“Incredibly, he didn’t call for an ambulance. In fact, his coverup began after he shot her,” Romanucci said. “Immediately he claimed that shots were fired at police when the only shot that was fired that night was from his gun.”
According to the lawsuit, police supervisors knew about the relationship between Rivera and Baker as early as September of 2023. That was almost two years before she was killed.
Department policy does not apply to off-duty relationships between officers, Romanucci said. It only applies when they are on duty, and their work is affected. That was the situation between Rivera and Baker according to attorney Maura White.
“We believe that CPD knew that Krystal had previously requested a different partner because of her safety concerns over Baker’s reckless conduct,” White said.
Since joining the department, NBC 5 Investigates found at least eight incidents of sustained or disciplined incidents against Baker who, only after another allegation of domestic violence, has been stripped of his police powers.
According to Romanucci, “Baker should not have gotten past his probationary period.”
The Fraternal Order of police, however, is disputing allegations in the lawsuit and supporting Officer Baker calling the shooting of Krystal Rivera a tragic mistake. FOP Lodge President John Catanzara said on YouTube that Baker never knew he fired the fatal shot. About the allegations of a romantic connection between he said, “the personal relationship that Carlos and Krystal may or may not have had, had nothing to do with what happened that night.” He called the allegation that Baker left Rivera to die “disgusting.”
Both the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Department of Law say they do not comment on pending litigation. Baker’s attorney has not returned calls from NBC Chicago.
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