Four US police officers shot and killed a black man during a traffic stop almost 100 times. The officers were apparently in civilian clothes. According to police authorities, they stopped the man because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
The USA is once again shaken by a particularly serious case of police violence. In Chicago, four police officers shot dozens of shots at a black driver during a traffic stop. The debate about racism and police violence has now flared up again.
The incident occurred on March 21 in a residential neighborhood, but the Chicago Office of Police Accountability (COPA) only now released the bodycam footage of the officers involved.
According to COPA’s initial findings, 26-year-old Dexter Reed first fired a shot himself, hitting a police officer in the forearm after five officers stopped him. Lawyers for the family say the police officers appeared in civilian clothing. Video footage released by the police watchdog shows them moving toward Reed’s car with guns drawn. First they ask him to roll down his window and then to open the door – according to authorities, he was stopped for not wearing a seat belt.
96 shots in 41 seconds
The images show how Reed apparently does not follow the instructions immediately, a shot is heard and the situation escalates within a very short time. COPA said officers fired approximately 96 times at the man over 41 seconds, even as he opened the car door and fell to the ground. According to reports, he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead there. A gun was later discovered in his passenger seat.
COPA said the officers involved were initially placed on leave for 30 days. The investigation was still ongoing.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson promised a comprehensive and transparent investigation. “Attempts to withhold or delay information are mistakes of the past,” he said at a news conference. He was “personally shocked that another young black man lost his life in a confrontation with the police.”
“We have a problem with policing”
The family of the man killed discussed the circumstances of the traffic stop. The officers never identified themselves, their lawyer said at a press conference. They were police officers in hoodies and baseball caps, and the police car was also unmarked. “We have a problem with policing in this city,” another attorney said. Five officers “jumped out of a car armed for a young man who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.”
Deadly police operations of a similar nature occur regularly in the USA. A representative example of this is the case of George Floyd, which triggered national protests a few years ago. In May 2020, the African American died in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. Videos documented how police officers pushed the unarmed man to the ground. White officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for a good nine minutes while Floyd pleaded to let him breathe. The case led to nationwide protests against police violence and racism.