A newly-hired Chicago police officer is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly threatening one of his neighbors with a handgun in August.
Raekwon Livingston, 24, was arrested at 6:50 a.m. Friday at the Chicago police academy, 1300 West Jackson, according to a CPD document. The document said CPD also notified Chicago’s police oversight agency, COPA, on Friday morning.
Livingston’s arrest is the latest in a series of troubling things that have happened in Chicago involving new police officers and new recruits.
He is accused of pulling a gun on a neighbor who was walking a dog in the 1100 block of North Howe around 9 a.m. on August 27, records show. But the police report documenting the incident is dated August 30.
The alleged threat happened less than a block from the Near North (18th) District police station, 1160 North Larrabee. The charge is a misdemeanor.
CPD did not respond to an inquiry about Livingston’s current status with the department and if he was a sworn officer or a recruit.
Other recent allegations against prospective and newly-minted Chicago police officers include the shooting of a probationary Chicago police officer during a suspected road rage incident in September, just days after she was suspended for allegedly failing a drug test. The woman is no longer with the police department.
In August, CPD recruit Denisse Balseca refused to cooperate with suburban police officers during a traffic stop and then hit, kicked, and shoved cops who tried to take her into custody, according to a Schiller Park Police Department report.
When an officer showed her the injuries she caused to him, the recruit allegedly replied, “How else was I supposed to get away?”
Schiller Park officers decided not to pursue felony charges against Balseca, 27, but she was charged with local ordinance violations.
In June, CPD recruit Davin Jones, 27, was arrested near the Field Museum for allegedly having a gun in his car and obstructing his vehicle’s rear license plate. Prosecutors said jones “became verbally aggressive” with police during the incident, so they arrested him.
Cops saw Jones hiding his car’s rear license plate with a sweatshirt while it was illegally parked outside the Field Museum, according to information from prosecutors and CPD.
“The clothing was removed [from the license plate], at which time a verbal altercation ensued between Jones and the officers,” a CPD spokesperson said. Cops took Jones into custody and subsequently found a loaded 40-caliber handgun inside his car’s glove box, said prosecutors, who added that Jones does not have a concealed carry license.
They charged Jones with misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon and misdemeanor modification of a registration plate. He also received traffic citations, police said.