Dexter Reed. The next George Floyd?

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CHICAGO (AP) — A deadly traffic stop where plainclothes Chicago police officers fired nearly 100 shots in under a minute has raised serious questions about the use of force and role of tactical officers in departments.

As family and community members mourn 26-year-old Dexter Reed, a police oversight agency and Cook County prosecutors are investigating.

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Videos and documents released this week by the Chicago Office of Police Accountability paint a harrowing picture of what happened during the March 21 traffic stop.

But about a week ago, the oversight agency’s leader expressed “grave concerns” about the officers’ actions in a letter to Police Superintendent Larry Snelling.

Officers in an unmarked police car stopped Reed for not wearing a seatbelt, according to COPA. But things devolved quickly as he appeared to refuse officers’ commands and didn’t immediately leave the SUV, according to video.

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Reed fired first, according to COPA, leaving an officer with a wrist injury. Then four officers fired 96 shots in a span of 41 seconds, including after Reed exited the vehicle, fell to the ground and lay motionless. One officer alone fired 50 shots.

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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,” COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten wrote in an April 1 letter obtained through a records request.

The American Civil Liberties Union also criticized the officers’ actions, including for immediately drawing guns and making profanity-laced commands.

“From the moment they all jump into the vehicle to chase the car, you can feel the adrenaline rush,” said ACLU of Illinois spokesman Ed Yonka. “There were no efforts at de-escalation.”

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Doubts have been raised about whether there was a seat belt violation that led to the stop.

Experts questioned tactical officers’ involvement.

“Why would a police officer, not in uniform, bother with something like that?” asked Geoffrey Alpert, a researcher at the University of South Carolina specializing in high-risk police activities.

Reed’s SUV had dark tinted windows, making it difficult for officers to see inside, Kersten noted in her letter.

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The available evidence calls into question the veracity of this account,” Kersten wrote to Snelling.

Reed’s family members were also skeptical.

“If he was supposedly pulled over for a traffic stop, why did they have four guns pointed at him?” Reed’s sister, Porscha Banks, told reporters after the videos were released. “He was scared.”

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All 96 shots need to be accounted for. That means, ‘Why were they fired?’” Alpert said. “The only reason you can fire is if this guy is creating an imminent threat.”

The videos don’t show Reed firing a gun. Police later found a weapon on the passenger side seat of his vehicle.

Footage from body-worn cameras offer glimpses into the confusing and distressing situation, including an officer who applied a tourniquet to a bleeding colleague.

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