Newly released bodycam footage reveals the mayhem that unfolded in a residential neighborhood when Chicago police fired as many as 96 bullets toward a man during a traffic stop, killing the 26-year-old and raising questions about whether officers used excessive force.
While a preliminary investigation suggests the driver opened fire on officers first, his family and attorneys question why plain-clothed officers swarmed Dexter Reed’s car with guns drawn and fired dozens of shots at him.
The fatal encounter happened in the city’s Garfield Park neighborhood on March 21. Several graphic bodycam videos were released Tuesday by Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Across the country, police bodycam footage has played an increasing role in raising awareness and understanding about officer-involved shootings.
Such evidence has been used to help convict some officers of crimes, while other officers have avoided criminal charges after the release of bodycam footage.
While the disturbing videos from Chicago bring more clarity to what happened, they also raise a plethora of new questions.
What the videos show
In one video, an officer wearing a hooded jacket, a baseball cap and a tactical vest with a badge on it approaches the driver of a white vehicle with dark-tinted windows.
“Roll the window down. Roll the window down,” the officer tells the driver. The driver initially rolled his window down but then kept rolling it back up.
“What are you doing?” the officer asks. “Don’t roll the window up. Do not roll the window up!”
The officer pulls on the driver’s door handle – which appears to be locked – and then draws a gun. “Unlock the doors now! Unlock the doors now!” the officer screams as another officer shouts the same demands.
The driver apparently says, “OK, I’m trying to.”
Seconds later, as the officer retreats from the vehicle, gunfire breaks out
Dozens of gunshots are then heard in rapid succession.
Other bodycam videos show at least two other officers firing toward Reed from across the street in the residential neighborhood. Both of those officers paused to reload their guns.
After the barrage of gunfire ends, Reed’s body is found lying face down behind the vehicle.
“He started shooting at us,” an officer said in one of the videos.
About a minute later, an officer examines Reed’s bullet-ridden car.
“The gun’s right there,” the officer says, shining a flashlight into the vehicle.
One officer was shot in the wrist during the gunfire and was hospitalized in good condition, Chicago police said.
Now, multiple agencies are investigating whether the officers’ actions were justified.
