Video footage on Tuesday emerged showing the moment when plainclothes Chicago police officers unloaded nearly 100 gunshots during a traffic stop last month, killing a man and subsequently leading to negative anti-cop coverage. However, the narrative of police killing an innocent man runs counter to the facts.
As the New York Post reported, 26-year-old Dexter Reed was killed during a March 21 traffic stop in Humboldt Park on West Ferdinand Street after officers in an unmarked cop car pulled him over for failing to wear a seatbelt.
The wild footage opens with a female officer and four others approaching Reed’s vehicle while he rolls down the window. But he refuses to exit his SUV despite the policewoman angrily ordering him to do so several times.
The officers then back up, and a major shootout subsequently erupts, sending her scrambling.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” the female officer yells. “Alert the neighbors!”
She and her fellow officers then fire several more bullets before stopping.
WATCH:
Just in: part of more than 30 videos released this morning by @COPA_Chicago related to the “exchange of gunfire” resulting in the death of Dexter Reed last month. (Graphic)
NOTE: This is a segment of the video. The full video and all COPA materials are available here:… pic.twitter.com/73JeSAgtQd
— CWBChicago (@CWBChicago) April 9, 2024
Reed is next seen on the ground near the rear passenger wheel of his car, which is full of bullet holes. The policewoman calls for an ambulance and reveals an officer has been shot.
The cops handcuff a motionless Reed and say that “he started shooting at us” while trying to locate his gun.
The corporate media, though, wasted no time slanting an anti-cop version of events. CNN, for example, ran a segment that was very sympathetic to Reed after the footage leaked.
The liberal outlet interviewed members of his family and the family attorney but did not bother to interview a dissenting voice. The attorney alleged without evidence that the cops conducted an unconstitutional search while the family members mourned Reed’s loss and painted him as an angel.
How did a traffic stop for not wearing a seatbelt end with 96 gunshots, an injured officer, and a dead 26-year-old? Some say it was because Dexter Reed fired at officers first, as the initial investigation shows. Some believe the stop never should’ve happened in the first place. pic.twitter.com/1Yg7fhVjZB
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) April 9, 2024
Meanwhile, here is how the far-left Washington Post decided to slant their coverage of the incident. Note the racial angle involved:
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, however, revealed that evidence showed Reed had fired first during the shootout. One police officer was shot in the hand during the exchange.
Four other officers then returned fire, killing Reed. All told, 96 bullets were fired in 41 seconds.
“Available preliminary evidence also confirms that officers returned fire approximately 96 times over a period of 41 seconds, including after Mr. Reed exited his vehicle and fell to the ground,” COPA said.
In other words, this is a case of self-defense by the police officers.
But their actions are under investigation. Communist Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx said Tuesday that her office would determine whether the officers’ use of force was warranted or necessitated criminal charges.
It would not come as a surprise if these cops are punished and fed to the mob despite Reed opening fire first.
