Videos show Chicago police fired nearly 100 shots in 41 seconds during a deadly traffic stop

CHICAGO (AP) — Plainclothes Chicago police officers fired nearly 100 shots in 41 seconds during a traffic stop, killing one man and wounding an officer, according to graphic video footage released by a police watchdog agency Tuesday.

Five officers from a tactical unit in an unmarked police vehicle surrounded an SUV driven by Dexter Reed last month, allegedly because he was not wearing his seatbelt. The video shows the 26-year-old Black man briefly lowering a window and then raising it again and refusing to exit the vehicle as more officers arrived, shouting commands and drawing weapons.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said preliminary evidence showed Reed fired first, wounding an officer in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the city's west side. Four officers then returned fire, firing 96 shots.

Videos in this story may contain graphic content.

The shooting continued even after “Reed exited his vehicle and fell to the ground,” COPA said in releasing the body-worn camera footage, 911 calls and police reports.

The videos released offer a broader perspective than what police initially offered last month.

Police Commissioner Larry Snelling previously said the March 21 shooting began with a traffic stop and described it as an “exchange of gunfire.”

Family members have questioned authorities' account of the shooting and sought answers as to why Reed was pulled over. Andrew Stroth, an attorney for the family, said Reed's mother, sister, uncle and father saw the video Tuesday and were emotionally distraught. He said they remember the young man as a talented high school basketball player with aspirations of becoming a sports journalist.

“I really can't explain the pain that me and my family are going through, but I just hope that there are people out there who understand that 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 someone very important.”

Stroth called it an unconstitutional police stop with officers in plain clothes who did not indicate that they were police officers. He said the family wants a quick investigation and better department compliance with a court-supervised reform plan.

“Nothing will bring Dexter back, but efforts should definitely be made to ensure this doesn't happen to another family,” he said.

On Tuesday, police spokesman Thomas Ahern said the department was cooperating with the investigation.

“We cannot make a decision about this shooting until all the facts are known and this investigation is complete,” he said.

The videos show multiple perspectives, including from the perspective of the officer who was shot. However, there is no clear footage of Reed's shooting. A weapon was later recovered from the vehicle.

The tactical unit drives to the scene with several officers and shouts profanities at Reed to first roll down the window and then open the door.

Then shots are fired. A man who called 911 to report the shooting described it as “shooting like they were fighting a Vietnam War.”

Reed exits the vehicle and falls to the ground, landing head down near the rear passenger wheel. He only wears one shoe. Blood flows into a nearby gutter. Footage of the car shows dozens of bullet holes. The other shoe sits directly in front of the driver's door.

“Do not move! Don't move!” The officers scream at Reed and raise their bloody, limp hands in search of a weapon, but find none. They handcuff him while he lies face down and doesn't move.

“I don’t know where the gun is,” said an officer. They later look into the vehicle with a flashlight and locate the weapon on the passenger seat.

“He started shooting at us,” another officer said.

Additional officers and ambulances then arrive on site.

“We all shot,” one officer says repeatedly.

Mayor Brandon Johnson promised a full investigation and said Tuesday's release was part of an effort to increase transparency.

“Attempts to withhold or delay information are a thing of the past,” he said at a news conference with COPA and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. “As a mayor and a father raising a family, including two Black boys, on the West Side of Chicago, I am personally devastated to witness another young Black man lose his life in an encounter with police. “

He said the city does not condone shootings against police officers, noting that the officer, who is also Black, suffered a wrist injury but could have had it far worse. If the bullet had traveled a few inches in a different direction, Johnson said he would be “talking about the death of another Black man.”

The officers have been placed on administrative leave for 30 days pending the investigation by COPA and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

Prosecutor Kim Foxx said her office will decide whether the officers' use of force was justified or requires criminal charges.

“I assure you that our pursuit of justice will be relentless, guided by the facts and based on evidence and the law,” she said.

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled Reed's death a homicide and reported that he died of “multiple” gunshot wounds.

COPA was created in 2016 after the city was forced to release dashcam video of then-officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. This contradicted the officers' statement that the teenager attacked the police with a knife. His duties include investigating police shootings.

Police have been subject to a consent decree since 2019, issued after the U.S. Justice Department found a long history of racial bias and excessive use of force following the McDonald's death.

The independent monitoring team that monitors the department's compliance has repeatedly found the department falling behind deadlines and specific goals, and last year called on Snelling, as the new superintendent, to “address challenges that have disproportionately delayed progress.”

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Associated Press writer Corey Williams contributed to this report from Detroit.

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