Clashes break out at protest on West Side after release of Dexter Reed shooting footage
Family and community activists called for the firing of officers who shot and killed Dexter Reed. Two people were injured as protesters clashed and blocked an intersection outside a police station.
By Emmanuel Camarillo | Chicago Sun-Times
Clashes break out at protest on West Side after release of Dexter Reed shooting footage
Family and community activists called for the firing of officers who shot and killed Dexter Reed. Two people were injured as protesters clashed and blocked an intersection outside a police station.
By Emmanuel Camarillo | Chicago Sun-TimesOne person was hospitalized when a clash erupted at a protest Tuesday evening where community activists and family members of Dexter Reed demanded the firing of officers who fatally shot the 26-year-old during a traffic stop.
Speakers at the rally, which was held outside the 11th District Police Station at 3151 W. Harrison St., expressed outrage that a simple traffic stop had escalated to a deadly situation, and they questioned whether officers were telling the truth when they said they initially pulled Reed over for a seat-belt violation.
A man in the crowd heckled some of the speakers, shouting, “He shot a police officer!” several times. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability on Tuesday said video of the incident appeared to show Reed opened fire first, striking an officer in the hand before four other cops fired roughly 96 shots at Reed in 41 seconds.
“He was a sweet, brave, ambitious, respectable young guy that just liked to spend time with his family. There’s no way he should have been gunned down by CPD,” said Porscha Banks, Reed’s sister. “Whether he shot or not, he should not have been murdered.”
The heckler later got into a confrontation with a protester after the group moved to block the intersection at Kedzie Avenue and Harrison Street. Several protesters chased the man, and he sought safety behind a line of police officers, who had to call for reinforcements as the rally escalated at the intersection.
Another confrontation broke out between a separate group of protesters as the heckler was being chased. One woman suffered injuries from an assault and was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Chicago Fire Department. Another person refused medical treatment at the scene.
The scene caused tensions to flare between police and protesters, with some getting in the faces of cops, berating and taunting them. Things cooled down when Nicole Banks, Dexter Reed’s mother, stood between protesters and police, arms outstretched, calling for peace.
On March 21, five tactical officers from the Harrison District approached Reed’s GMC Terrain, which had heavily tinted windows. The vehicle was apparently parked in a crosswalk in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street in Humboldt Park.
Body-worn camera footage released by COPA on Tuesday shows that Reed resisted orders to roll down his car windows and open the door. As officers shouted at him, Reed opened fire and struck one of the officers in the hand, COPA said. The four other officers then opened fire.
In a letter to Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling, COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten questioned whether the officers lied about why they stopped Reed in Humboldt Park.
Kersten also raised “grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force.”
In her letter, Kersten urged Snelling to strip the four officers of their policing powers while raising serious alarms about their actions and their account of the deadly stop.
Aislinn Pulley, of the Chicago Torture Justice Center, questioned why tactical officers were making a traffic stop.
“That makes no sense. Dexter’s vehicle had tinted windows, so the argument that they were looking for a seat-belt violation doesn’t make sense,” she said, calling for the firing of the police officers and disbanding the tactical teams in CPD.
A man who identified himself as Reed’s uncle called for a federal investigation into the officers and the entire department.
“There needs to be a federal investigation done on them and on this police department alone,” he said. “It’s sad for me and my family, and other families like us that have gone through this, but I would like to know that my nephew will stop this, and be a person that brings attention and consciousness to this world and this country.”
