Chicago police have released footage of a deadly raid last month in which five officers fired as many as 96 shots at a vehicle that was initially stopped because the driver was not wearing his belt. The motorist in question was killed during the shooting.
On March 21, Dexter Reed, 26, was driving in the Humboldt Park area when plainclothes police officers in an unmarked car stopped him because he appeared not to be wearing his seat belt.
The individual, visibly on guard, lowers his window, then raises it even though the police ask him to keep it open. The officers then raise their voices and try to open his door, while repeatedly asking him to unlock it.
Photo from CNN
According to the police report, the suspect then opened fire, hitting an officer in the forearm, which sparked a violent shootout. The officers fired 96 times at the vehicle in just about forty seconds.
In footage from one of the police’s body cameras, Dexter Reed can be seen getting out of his car, unarmed. Several police officers nevertheless continued to shoot in his direction. The suspect was then handcuffed and arrested, but the man quickly succumbed to his injuries.
A firearm was later found in the front passenger seat.
Excessive or justified force?
After seeing the images of this intervention, Mr. Reed’s family believes that the police used excessive force.
“How many times did they shoot him? He was already dead, why did you keep shooting him like that? They killed my son and killed me too,” said the young man’s mother, Nicole Banks.
Photo from CNN
No video released so far clearly demonstrates that the suspect was the one who fired first.
“It will be our job, based on all of the evidence, to determine whether the means deployed by the police officers were excessive within the meaning of the law,” said State Attorney Kim Foxx. She plans to lay criminal charges against the police officers involved in this event.
Photo from CNN
For lawyer Steven Hart, there is something fishy going on.
“There is a problem in this city when five tactical officers get out of an unmarked vehicle and point their weapons at a young man who was not wearing his seat belt,” he maintains.
Photo from CNN
The director of Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability questions the motives behind this intervention and the version told by the officers.
