A veteran white Chicago cop whose heated confrontation with a black woman walking a dog on a closed beach made national headlines has resigned, department officials said Friday.
Officer Bruce Dyker, a 23-year policeman who forcibly grabbed Nikkita Brown as she walked her French bulldog along North Avenue Beach on Aug. 28, put in his papers in May before department brass doled out any disciplinary action.
“No additional information is available,” a Chicago police rep told The Post in an email Friday.
Footage showed Dyker telling Brown to get off the closed Lake Michigan beach before grabbing at her phone — setting off a struggle as the woman’s dog hopped at the officer’s feet and she repeatedly screamed for him to let her go.
Brown, who claimed she was racially profiled since other beach-goers who were white weren’t confronted, later said she thought she was “going to die” during the hostile exchange with the unmasked officer.
Chicago police officer Bruce Dyker has resigned from the force after a physical confrontation with a black woman, Nikkita Brown, walking her dog on the beach. Sauter Law Firm
Nikkita Brown said she feared for her life during the altercation. Screenshot ABC
Nikkita Brown believes she was racially profiled. Sauter Law Firm“Black woman walking after hours, I guess I look suspicious,” Brown said told ABC News in September when asked why she believed she was stopped.
According to Dyker’s body-cam footage, he had told Brown before the tussle, “You need to exit … Ma’am, get out of the park!
“What do you not understand about that? The park is closed!” the cop said. “You are trespassing on city property, and you will go to jail if you don’t take your dog and leave.”
Nikkita Brown’s dog leapt at the officer’s feet during the altercation. Sauter Law Firm
Nikkita Brown screamed for Chicago cop Bruce Dyker to let go of her during the confrontation. Sauter Law Firm
Chicago cop Bruce Dyker had 25 complaints against him. Sauter Law FirmBrown then told Dyker to “back up” and accused him of spitting on her, which he denied while instructing her to leave the beach. She stopped and glanced at her phone as the officer warned her again that she was about to be handcuffed, the clip shows.
“Do you want to test me on this?” Dyker told Brown before grabbing her arm.
“I’m leaving, get off of me!” she shrieked as they continued to struggle. “Let go! Let go!”
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown put Dyker on paid desk duty after the incident, which occurred after the beach had closed earlier that evening.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in September she was “deeply concerned” about the caught-on-camera confrontation.
An investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which probes allegations of misconduct by cops, concluded in October, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The agency previously recommended Dyker be relieved of his police powers, or put on administrative duties, pending the outcome.
Brown previously told the Chicago Sun-Times she wanted to see Dyker fired and criminally charged.
“But I don’t think every officer out there is bad,” she said. “There’s always a bad apple.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was “deeply concerned” about the incident. Sauter Law FirmDyker had 25 complaints against him as an officer, the newspaper reported, including three that were sustained.
The head of the Chicago police union representing rank-and-file cops said Dyker will not comment on his resignation, according to the report.
“Bruce just had enough of the nonsense and scrutiny for doing his job,” union boss John Catanzara told the Sun-Times. “He got the hell out of this city and got the hell out of this state and is moving on with his life.”
