A police review body revealed graphic video footage on Tuesday showing that Chicago police officers in plain clothes fired nearly 100 shots over 41 seconds during a traffic stop. The driver was killed and one officer was hurt.
Five tactical unit officers in an undercover police car circled Dexter Reed's SUV last month, reportedly because Reed was not wearing a seatbelt. The 26-year-old Black man quickly lowered a window and then raised it on video. He refused to get out of the car as more police officers came, yelled orders, and pulled out their guns.
On the West Side of the city's Humboldt Park area, Reed shot first and hurt an officer, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. Then four police officers shot back, firing 96 rounds.
"Reed got out of his car and fell to the ground," COPA said when they released the body-worn camera video, 911 calls, and police records. The gunshots kept going after that.
It is clear from the videos that the police's first report last month was missing some important details.
Chief of Police Larry Snelling had said before that the March 21 shooting started with a traffic stop and was followed by a "exchange of gunfire."
Family members have questioned the police story of the shooting and want to know why Reed was pulled over. The family's lawyer, Andrew M. Stroth, said that Reed's mother, sister, uncle, and father all saw the video on Tuesday and were very upset. He said that they remember the young man as a skilled high school basketball player who wanted to work as a sportscaster.
Reed's sister, Porscha Banks, told reporters, "I really can not explain the pain that me and my family are going through. I just hope that there are people out there who understand that he was a son, a brother, an uncle, and a loved one." "He was a very important person."
Banks and other family members joined a protest outside of the 11th District Police Station on Tuesday night. The protesters wanted the police officers who shot Reed to be fired. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that one person was taken to the hospital after a fight between protesters and a person who was heckling.
During the stop, Stroth said that cops in street clothes who did not say they were police broke the Constitution. The family wants an investigation to happen quickly and for the department to do a better job of following a court-ordered plan for change.
"Nothing will bring Dexter back," he said. "But we should work to make sure this does not happen to another family."
Thomas Ahern, a spokesman for the police, said on Tuesday that the department was helping with the probe.
'We can not say anything about this shooting until we know all the facts and the investigation is over,' he said.
The videos show different points of view, such as the cop who was shot's. But there is not clear video of Reed shooting. An officer later found a gun in the car.
When the tactical unit gets there, several cops are yelling at Reed in a bad voice to first lower the window and then open the door.
Then there are bangs. When he called 911 to report the killing, a guy said, "They are shooting like it is 1970."
Reed gets out of the car and falls to the ground, face down, with his head near the back passenger wheel. He is only wearing one shoe. Blood runs into a close drain. A video of the car shows that it has a lot of bullet holes. The other shoe is right outside the door for the driver.
"Do not move!" Police officers yell at Reed, "Do not move!" as they look for a gun with their bloody, slouched hands. As he lies facedown and does not move, they handcuff him.
A police cop says, "I do not know where the gun is." Later, they look inside the car with a flashlight and find the gun on the passenger seat.
"He began shooting at us," says another police officer.
After that, more police officers and an ambulance show up at the scene.
"All of us were shooting," says one police officer over and over.
Mayor Brandon Johnson promised a full probe and said the news on Tuesday was part of an effort to be more open.
"Attempts to hide or delay information are things of the past," he said at a press meeting with COPA and the state's attorney's office for Cook County. "Every time I see another young Black man die in a police encounter, it breaks my heart. I am the mayor of Chicago and the father of two Black boys who live on the West Side of the city.
He said that shooting at police officers is not okay in the city and that the officer, who is also Black, only hurt his wrist but could have been much worse. If the bullet had gone a few inches in a different direction, Johnson said he would be here "talking about the death of another Black man."
Authorities put the cops on administrative leave for 30 days while COPA and the Cook County state's attorney's office looked into what happened.
Kim Foxx, the state's attorney, said that her office will decide if the police officers' use of force was legal or if they should feel criminally charged.
She told him, "Let me promise you that our search for justice will never end. It will be based on facts, evidence, and the law."
The Cook County medical examiner's office said Reed died of "multiple" shooting wounds and that the death was a murder.
The city had to share dashcam video of then-officer Jason Van Dyke killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2016, which showed that the teen had not been threatening police with a knife as they said. This led to the creation of COPA. Investigations into police killings are part of its job.
Since 2019, the police department has been under a consent order. This was because the U.S. Justice Department found a long history of racial bias and inappropriate use of force after McDonald's death.
The independent monitoring team that is in charge of the department's compliance has found that it is consistently missing targets and specific goals. As a result, they asked Snelling, who will be serving as director starting in 2018, to "address challenges that have disproportionately delayed progress."
Five tactical unit officers in an undercover police car circled Dexter Reed's SUV last month, reportedly because Reed was not wearing a seatbelt. The 26-year-old Black man quickly lowered a window and then raised it on video. He refused to get out of the car as more police officers came, yelled orders, and pulled out their guns.
On the West Side of the city's Humboldt Park area, Reed shot first and hurt an officer, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. Then four police officers shot back, firing 96 rounds.
"Reed got out of his car and fell to the ground," COPA said when they released the body-worn camera video, 911 calls, and police records. The gunshots kept going after that.
It is clear from the videos that the police's first report last month was missing some important details.
Chief of Police Larry Snelling had said before that the March 21 shooting started with a traffic stop and was followed by a "exchange of gunfire."
Family members have questioned the police story of the shooting and want to know why Reed was pulled over. The family's lawyer, Andrew M. Stroth, said that Reed's mother, sister, uncle, and father all saw the video on Tuesday and were very upset. He said that they remember the young man as a skilled high school basketball player who wanted to work as a sportscaster.
Reed's sister, Porscha Banks, told reporters, "I really can not explain the pain that me and my family are going through. I just hope that there are people out there who understand that he was a son, a brother, an uncle, and a loved one." "He was a very important person."
Banks and other family members joined a protest outside of the 11th District Police Station on Tuesday night. The protesters wanted the police officers who shot Reed to be fired. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that one person was taken to the hospital after a fight between protesters and a person who was heckling.
During the stop, Stroth said that cops in street clothes who did not say they were police broke the Constitution. The family wants an investigation to happen quickly and for the department to do a better job of following a court-ordered plan for change.
"Nothing will bring Dexter back," he said. "But we should work to make sure this does not happen to another family."
Thomas Ahern, a spokesman for the police, said on Tuesday that the department was helping with the probe.
'We can not say anything about this shooting until we know all the facts and the investigation is over,' he said.
The videos show different points of view, such as the cop who was shot's. But there is not clear video of Reed shooting. An officer later found a gun in the car.
When the tactical unit gets there, several cops are yelling at Reed in a bad voice to first lower the window and then open the door.
Then there are bangs. When he called 911 to report the killing, a guy said, "They are shooting like it is 1970."
Reed gets out of the car and falls to the ground, face down, with his head near the back passenger wheel. He is only wearing one shoe. Blood runs into a close drain. A video of the car shows that it has a lot of bullet holes. The other shoe is right outside the door for the driver.
"Do not move!" Police officers yell at Reed, "Do not move!" as they look for a gun with their bloody, slouched hands. As he lies facedown and does not move, they handcuff him.
A police cop says, "I do not know where the gun is." Later, they look inside the car with a flashlight and find the gun on the passenger seat.
"He began shooting at us," says another police officer.
After that, more police officers and an ambulance show up at the scene.
"All of us were shooting," says one police officer over and over.
Mayor Brandon Johnson promised a full probe and said the news on Tuesday was part of an effort to be more open.
"Attempts to hide or delay information are things of the past," he said at a press meeting with COPA and the state's attorney's office for Cook County. "Every time I see another young Black man die in a police encounter, it breaks my heart. I am the mayor of Chicago and the father of two Black boys who live on the West Side of the city.
He said that shooting at police officers is not okay in the city and that the officer, who is also Black, only hurt his wrist but could have been much worse. If the bullet had gone a few inches in a different direction, Johnson said he would be here "talking about the death of another Black man."
Authorities put the cops on administrative leave for 30 days while COPA and the Cook County state's attorney's office looked into what happened.
Kim Foxx, the state's attorney, said that her office will decide if the police officers' use of force was legal or if they should feel criminally charged.
She told him, "Let me promise you that our search for justice will never end. It will be based on facts, evidence, and the law."
The Cook County medical examiner's office said Reed died of "multiple" shooting wounds and that the death was a murder.
The city had to share dashcam video of then-officer Jason Van Dyke killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2016, which showed that the teen had not been threatening police with a knife as they said. This led to the creation of COPA. Investigations into police killings are part of its job.
Since 2019, the police department has been under a consent order. This was because the U.S. Justice Department found a long history of racial bias and inappropriate use of force after McDonald's death.
The independent monitoring team that is in charge of the department's compliance has found that it is consistently missing targets and specific goals. As a result, they asked Snelling, who will be serving as director starting in 2018, to "address challenges that have disproportionately delayed progress."
