In a recent court filing, Chicago city attorneys revealed that a man who was killed in a confrontation with police in March had been pulled over due to illegally tinted windows and not, as previously believed, because he was not wearing a seatbelt. The man, Dexter Reed, was shot at nearly 100 times by police, with at least 13 bullets striking him, as confirmed by an autopsy report.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), responsible for investigating police shootings, stated that Reed was the first to open fire during the altercation. Despite this, Reed’s mother has filed a lawsuit against the city, accusing the officers of using excessive force in her son’s death.
Chicago city attorneys have now requested a judge to dismiss certain parts of the lawsuit. They also disclosed that Reed, aged 26 at the time of the incident, had been stopped by police for the traffic violation related to the tinted windows, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The revelation contradicts previous information provided by COPA that the stop was initiated due to Reed not wearing a seatbelt, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the traffic stop. Ephraim Eaddy, the deputy chief administrator of COPA, reiterated the department’s commitment to the information previously disclosed during their investigations.
Expressing her dismay over the city’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, Reed’s sister, Porscha Banks, criticized the move as an obstruction to her family’s pursuit of justice. Banks stated, “They are trying to deny my family justice after those officers did so much wrong to my brother.”
