Chicago police officers face suspensions for traffic stop weeks before fatal shooting of Dexter Reed
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling is moving to suspend five officers for violating department rules during a traffic stop two weeks before they were involved in the March 2024 shooting death of Dexter Reed during a similar stop.
Records released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability show six officers pulled over a driver in the 3800 block of West Jackson Boulevard on March 6, 2024, after the officers said they saw the driver was not wearing his seatbelt properly.
However, COPA found the traffic stop was not justified, noting the officers initially told the driver "You're flying, you're eating, it's not safe," and noted his windows were tinted. It wasn't until nearly three minutes after the driver was stopped that one of the officers brought up a seatbelt violation as the basis for the stop.
COPA also noted that the officers didn't issue the driver a ticket for speeding or for any other traffic violations, and no officers explained how they knew the level of tint on his windows was illegal. The driver claimed the tinted windows were a privacy screen built in to the car when he bought it, suggesting they weren't illegal.
Investigators also questioned how the officers could have seen a seatbelt violation if they claimed the windows were illegally tinted.
"These inconsistencies undermine the officers' contention that the initial basis for the stop was based on an observed seatbelt violation," COPA wrote in its report on the traffic stop.
COPA also determined the officers violated Chicago Police Department policies by searching the driver's car without justification, responding to his request for a police supervisor by telling him he would be arrested for obstruction if a supervisor came to the scene, for threatening to arrest him for obstruction of an investigation without justification, among other violations.
The agency recommended all six officers face various suspensions for violating CPD policies during the traffic stop.
Records provided by COPA show Snelling has agreed with the agency's recommendation that the six officers face suspensions between 3 and 25 days. In addition, each officer will be given additional training on traffic stops and the prohibition against retaliation.
The officers may file a request for a review of their suspensions, and can submit a memo outlining the reason for their request, along with evidence in their favor. The Chicago Police Board would then assign a hearing officer to review their case and decide whether their suspension should be upheld, reduced, or reversed.
On March 21, 2024, five of those six officers shot and killed Dexter Reed in the 3800 block of West Flournoy Street, after he shot an officer in the wrist during a traffic stop. COPA has said the officers also pulled over Reed for failing to wear his seatbelt, but has questioned how the officers could have seen a seatbelt violation given the tinted windows on Reed's car.
One of those officers also is facing a possible suspension for his involvement in a traffic stop on June 28, 2023, in which officers pulled over a driver for a seat belt violation. In that case, while COPA did not question the justification for the stop itself, investigators determined officers patted the driver down and searched his car without justification, and then failed to file an investigatory stop report as required by CPD orders.
