Graphic bodycam footage released Tuesday revealed the chaos that unfolded when plainclothes Chicago cops fired nearly 100 gunshots during a traffic stop last month, killing one young man and leaving another injured.
Dexter Reed, 26, was killed during a March 21 traffic stop in Humboldt Park after officers in an unmarked cop car pulled him over for allegedly failing to wear a seatbelt.
The chaotic footage shows Reed rolling down the window of his SUV and then raising it before refusing to exit his vehicle as five officers scream commands and draw their weapons.
Preliminary evidence showed Reed had fired first at one officer during the shootout on West Ferdinand Street. Four other officers then returned fire, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability said in a statement.
“Available preliminary evidence also confirms that officers returned fire approximately 96 times over a period of 41 seconds, including after Mr. Reed exited his vehicle and fell to the ground,” COPA said.
The videos released show multiple perspectives, including from the officer who was shot, however, there isn’t clear footage of Reed shooting at police.
A gun was later recovered from the passenger seat of his vehicle.
As gunshots erupt, one man calling 911 to report the shooting described it as if the officers were “shooting like they’re having a Vietnam War.”
Footage shows Reed exiting the vehicle and falling to the ground near the rear passenger wheel of his car, which is riddled with bullet holes.
“Don’t f—ing move! Don’t f—ing move!” the officers scream at Reed, who they handcuff as he remains facedown and unmoving, his head nearly underneath the back of his car.
“I don’t know where the gun is,” an officer says.
“He started shooting at us,” another officer says as more officers and an ambulance arrive on the scene.
Reed’s grieving family members have questioned authorities’ recounting of the shooting, according to their attorney Andrew M. Stroth.
“I really can’t explain the pain that me and my family is going through, but I just hope there are people out there who understand he was a son, he was a brother, he was an uncle, he had loved ones,” Reed’s sister, Porscha Banks, told reporters. “He was somebody very important.”
His family, who says Reed was a talented basketball player with dreams of becoming a sports broadcaster, wants to see an investigation into the shooting. Their attorney deemed the shooting unconstitutional since the plainclothes officers did not announce they were cops.
A medical examiner classified Reed’s death as a homicide and reported he died of “multiple” gunshot wounds.
Police spokesperson Thomas Ahern said the department was cooperating with the investigation.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said the release of the footage and 911 calls was part of an effort to be more transparent.
State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said her office would determine whether the officers’ use of force was warranted or necessitated criminal charges.
With Post wires.
