Dexter Reed's family could get $1.25 million settlement in fatal Chicago police shooting
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Dexter Reed's family could get a $1.25 million settlement from the city after he was killed by Chicago police officers last year in a shootout following a traffic stop on the West Side.
The settlement agreement also would include "non-monetary relief" that would set new restrictions on traffic stops for the Chicago Police Department, sources said.
A heated debate is expected when the proposed settlement comes up for a vote by the City Council Finance Committee on Monday, as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) has said it appears Reed, 26, shot and wounded an officer in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street before four other officers fired 96 shots at Reed in 41 seconds, killing him.
Both Reed's family and COPA have raised questions about why a team of five plain-clothed tactical officers pulled over Reed to begin with.
The lawsuit filed by Reed's mother, Nicole Banks, claims the traffic stop targeting her son was "unlawful and pretextual," and was the result of traffic stop quotas CPD imposes on officers.
"Officers had no reasonable suspicion that Dexter violated any law, and they falsely stated otherwise in official CPD reports," the lawsuit claims
COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten has said the officers involved said they noticed Reed wasn't wearing a seat belt, but she has questioned how they could have seen that through his vehicle's tinted windows.
"This evidence raises serious concerns about the validity of the traffic stop that led to the officers' encounter [Reed]," Kersten wrote in a letter to Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling days after the shooting.
Months after the shooting, city attorneys offered a different explanation for the traffic stop, claiming in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that "officers lawfully stopped Dexter Reed for driving a vehicle with dark tinted windows."
Reed's family has called for the officers involved in the shooting to face criminal charges. The four officers who shot Reed were placed on administrative duty after the shooting, but Snelling rejected Kersten's request that they also be relieved of their police powers until the investigation is complete. COPA has yet to announce any findings in its investigation.
Andrew M. Stroth, the attorney for Reed's family, declined to comment on the proposed settlement of the lawsuit.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry declined to comment on the proposed settlement on Tuesday at an unrelated news conference. Richardson-Lowry noted terms of the settlement remain under seal until the settlement is approved by the City Council.
"It is inappropriate, indeed it is not allowed for us to speak about any terms under discussion," Richardson-Lowry said.
However, Johnson said it's clear the Chicago Police Department needs to reform its policies regarding pretextual traffic stops.
"I believe everybody's committed to that. That's why we've been working collaboratively around establishing constitutional policing through the consent decree; from trainings to making sure that there's better supervision," Johnson said.
