Chicago cop arrested at training academy, charged with pulling gun on neighbor

A Chicago cop was arrested Friday at the Chicago Police Department’s training academy, charged with brandishing a gun during a dispute with a neighbor earlier this year.

Raekwon Livingston, 24, a probationary officer, was taken into custody at the academy at 1300 W. Jackson Blvd. on the Near West Side, charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the police said.

Livingston was charged in connection to an incident Aug. 27 in the 1100 block of North Howe Street, where he lives, according to a police spokesperson.

A source said Livingston got into an argument with a neighbor who was walking a dog and pulled a gun several times.

His arrest is the latest embarrassing incident involving a Chicago probationary officer.

Denisse Balseca was arrested Aug. 20, accused of attacking 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,” according to the report, which said officers found an open can of alcohol in the car and marijuana in her passenger’s purse. 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,” the report said.

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.