Former South Bend police chief Darryl Boykins died Friday at age 70. He was the city’s first Black chief, and he leaves a legacy of mentoring youth and quietly leading by example.
After working at Notre Dame and the DuComb Center, he became a South Bend police officer in 1984 at the age of 30.
Over the years Boykins rose through the ranks as a K9 handler, detective lieutenant, captain, and was recognized as Officer of the Year.
Off the job, Boykins in the 1990s combined his loves of tennis and boxing with his passion for mentoring youth to create the Police Athletic League. He also was a longtime tennis coach at Washington High School.
In 2007 Mayor Steve Luecke made Boykins the city’s first Black police chief, but in 2012 Mayor Pete Buttigieg fired him over the police tapes case. In his memoir Shortest Way Home, Buttigieg wrote that he lost trust in Boykins when he learned Boykins hadn’t told him that the FBI had been investigating some officers for alleged racial comments caught on tape. The case is still pending in court as the officers fight the tapes’ release.
South Bend Common Council member Oliver Davis says Boykins was a role model who deserved much better. The day after he stepped down, Davis recalls sitting next to him at a Senior Mens Meeting at the Martin Luther King Center.
"And I say, 'Well, what happened?' And he said, 'I didn't think anyone was going to fight for me.' And I looked into his eyes and I saw total tears, and at that point I became very passionate and very energized to make sure that justice was done," Davis said.
Davis says he’ll keep pushing the case and expects it to go to trial this summer.
