The officer involved shooting of Dexter Reed, who was killed during a traffic stop in Chicago on March 21, is now being investigated by an oversight agency. Plainclothes officers stopped Reed for not wearing a seatbelt, according to the Chicago Office of Police Accountability (COPA).
According to police body-camera video that has been released, the routine traffic stop turned deadly as a result of Reed not complying with lawful orders. Reed then fired a gun at officers, resulting in one officer being injured. As a result of Reed’s use of the firearm, a total of 96 rounds were fired into his vehicle by the officers, causing Reed’s death. Reed’s firearm was located on the passenger side of his vehicle.
COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten stated:
Based on the totality of the available evidence, COPA has grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force.
According to Reed’s sister, Porscha Banks, her brother fired at the officers during the routine traffic stop because he was frightened by the officers having their firearms drawn as a result of him not complying with lawful orders to lower the windows of his vehicle, stating, “He was scared.”
Banks questioned the use of firearms during a traffic stop, stating, “If he was supposedly pulled over for a traffic stop, why did they have four guns pointed at him?”
Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara stated the actions taken after Reed attempted to murder the officer were appropriate, stating:
Those officers responded heroically, providing cover for their brother, and trying to make sure not knowing how badly he was injured, that he was able to escape with his life as the offender continued to shoot from inside the vehicle.
Reed was in a high-crime area, and was in possession of the firearm he used to shoot the officer. The plainclothes officers who are part of a high-crime area “district tactical unit” had probable cause to stop Reed due to a seatbelt violation. Geoffrey Alpert of the University of South Carolina questioned the seatbelt violation, stating, “Why would a police officer, not in uniform, bother with something like that?”
