Protesters demand firing of 5 Chicago police officers involved in Dexter Reed shooting death
CHICAGO (CBS) --Community organizers held a rally Thursday evening to demand the firing of the five Chicago police officers involved in the shooting death of Dexter Reed.
Organizers were outside of Chicago Public Safety headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave., in support of Reed and his family before a Chicago Police Board meeting. They also said they want CPD Supt. Larry Snelling to be fired.
"Dexter Reed should be here today," one protester, Grace, said at the Police Board meeting.
The officers said they were conducting a traffic stop in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street in Humboldt Park for a seatbelt violation.
In the body camera footage, officers tell Reed to roll down his window and ask him, "What are you doing?"
After rolling down his window, Reed started rolling it up, prompting officers to repeatedly tell him, "Don't roll the window up," and, "Unlock the doors." Within seconds of the beginning, the conflict escalated frantically and became deadly.
COPA also believes Reed fired first in the shootout that ended in his death — and a gunshot wound for one of the five officers involved. Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara has said that Reed fired not one, but 11 rounds — and was still firing when the officers began firing back.
COPA said the police tactical team fired 96 times in 41 seconds, killing Reed.
In the weeks since the shooting, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten called on Snelling to strip the officers of their police powers as the investigation continued. She raised questions about the validity of the traffic stop.
Snelling has said, for now, he won't strip the five officers of their police powers.
In the weeks since the shooting and the release of the body cam video, Kersten has spoken publicly about the preliminary findings of the shooting – drawing criticism from Snelling.
"COPA should exist. There should be an oversight body. They should exist. But the bottom line is this – it doesn't exist to create a bias," Snelling said at the Police Board meeting. "Every investigation should be carried out with transparency but with 100% professionalism."
"It is responsibility of chief administrator to use all platforms - including the media – to educate and inform the public, and deliver meaningful transparency on these consequential occurrences," Kersten said at the meeting.
The Police Board did not take any action on any of the disciplinary items in front of them Thursday night. The items in question were not related to the Reed investigation.
