The Chicago police officer who officials say unintentionally shot and killed his partner during a foot pursuit on June 5, and who was recently accused of assaulting another female officer at a Wicker Park bar, told investigators that he was the real victim in the August 10 altercation at DSTRKT Bar & Grill, 1540 North Milwaukee Avenue.
Officer Carlos Baker’s version of events became public Monday when the police-oriented blog Second City Cop published a portion of the report he filed following the incident.
According to a separate report filed by a 29-year-old female officer, Baker and another woman confronted her while she was waiting for a rideshare in DSTRKT’s vestibule and pressured her to delete videos from her cellphone. She alleged that Baker and the woman “hit her in her facial area,” the report stated.
But Baker went home and submitted his own report that night, offering a much different account of what happened.
According to the report, patrol officers were dispatched to an address in the 1400 block of West 15th Street to meet with Baker, who told them that he was attending a birthday party at the bar when a woman he did not know “appeared to be recording him with her cellphone.” He said he initially ignored her, but later the same woman began recording again and placed her phone near his face, the report said.
Baker told police he believed the woman’s behavior was intended to harass him because she recognized him from “his involvement in a high profile police-involved shooting,” according to the report. He said he asked her to stop recording, but she refused. Baker said he then asked friends and bar staff to escort the woman out, and she was removed from the establishment.
When his friends returned, they told him the woman was also a Chicago police officer, the report said. Baker reported that he walked outside to ask for her name and star number. Instead of identifying herself, Baker said, the woman resumed recording him and claimed that he was harassing her.
As the confrontation continued, Baker’s girlfriend stood nearby. The report states that the girlfriend’s mother approached and told her daughter, “You’re really going to be with him? He’s a murderer,” before striking Baker with her fist.
By that time, the female officer who allegedly recorded Baker had already left the scene. Baker said he went home afterward and called the police to document what happened. He told responding officers that he did not wish to pursue charges against his girlfriend’s mother, but he wanted the incident on record, the report said. Responding officers said they notified various CPD supervisors about Baker’s report.
Baker was subsequently relieved of his police powers after reports surfaced that he tried to secure surveillance video of the DSTRKT altercation by stating he was investigating the matter.
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