A Chicago cop was arrested Friday morning at the police department’s training academy and charged with brandishing a gun during a dispute with a neighbor earlier this year.
Raekwon Livingston, a 24-year-old probationary officer, was taken into custody at the police academy at 1300 W. Jackson Blvd. on the Near West Side. He was charged with a misdemeanor count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to a police spokesperson and an alert from the department.
Livingston was charged in connection to an incident Aug. 27 in the 1100 block of North Howe Street, where he lives, according to the spokesperson. A source said Livingston got into an argument with a neighbor who was walking a dog and pulled out a gun several times.
Livingston’s first court date was set for Jan. 4, the spokesperson said.
His arrest is the latest embarrassing incident involving a Chicago probationary officer.
Denisse Balseca was arrested early on Aug. 20 after she allegedly attacked a Schiller Park cop during a traffic stop in the northwest suburb.
Balseca was stopped in the 4100 block of West Grace Street when officers saw her drive onto a curb twice, according to an arrest report. She and her passenger were “highly uncooperative” and had “bloodshot and glassy eyes,” the report stated.
Police found an open can of alcohol in the car and marijuana in her passenger’s purse, the report states. Balseca repeatedly failed to hand over her driver’s license and proof of insurance, according to the report.
After being pulled from the car and handcuffed, she “pushed, struck, scratched and kicked” an officer “in an attempt to defeat the arrest,” according to the report.
She was cited for ordinance violations for battery and disorderly conduct and was issued tickets for improper lane usage and not having insurance, police in the suburb said at the time. A Chicago Police spokesperson said she “is no longer a member of the department.”
In perhaps the strangest case, a 27-year-old probationary officer was fired just days after she was wounded in an apparent road rage shooting Sept. 20. She was shot in her face near Elston Avenue and Addison Street during a dispute that continued over blocks.
Law enforcement sources said she had failed a drug test three days before the shooting and was quickly stripped of her police powers. A source confirmed that she was fired after being wounded in the attack.
