CHICAGO — The officer who hit activist Miracle Boyd during a 2020 rally in Grant Park could be fired from the Police Department.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigated the incident and recommended in June that officer Nicholas Jovanovich be fired. Police Supt. David Brown disagreed, instead calling for Jovanovich to be suspended for a year. On Thursday night, the Chicago Police Board ruled in favor of COPA, according to a report from the Sun-Times’ Tom Schuba.
That ruling sets the stage for Jovanovich to be disciplined, including up to being fired.
The incident happened during a protest in July 2020 where activists were pushing for the removal of a Christopher Columbus statue at Grant Park. Boyd, a youth activist with anti-violence group GoodKids MadCity, was recording officers with her phone when Jovanovich knocked the phone out of her hand, which sent it into her face, according to the COPA investigation.
Several of Boyd’s teeth were knocked out. She called for the officer to be fired.
COPA investigated the officers involved, ruling Jovanovich had used excessive force, had tried to prevent Boyd from recording police and had taken her phone without inventorying it correctly, according to the Sun-Times. The ruling also alleges Jovanovich made false, misleading or incomplete statements in a police report, according to the Sun-Times.
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