The Chicago City Council's Finance Committee stalled on advancing a settlement proposal for the family of Dexter Reed, whose fatal shooting by police has stirred public outcry and legal scrutiny. While the committee was scheduled to vote Monday on the $1.25 million agreement aimed at settling the civil rights lawsuit brought by Reed's family, no vote took place, indicating a lack of consensus among council members, as reported by WTTW News. The deal, which also proposed imposing a ban on police quotas for traffic stops, faced opposition within the Council.
According to the same WTTW News report, the Chicago Police Department, in a statement, denied using quotas for traffic stops, asserting that stops "are only conducted when there is probable cause for the stop or reasonable articulable suspicion that a person is committing, is about to commit, or has committed a criminal offense." Dexter Reed, 26, was killed in a police-involved shooting last March after being pulled over on the West Side; an encounter that widened the rift between community members and law enforcement over policing practices.
As detailed by CBS News Chicago, the traffic stop escalated when Reed reportedly opened fire, wounding an officer, prompting police to shoot 96 times at Reed's vehicle in 41 seconds, an action that resulted in his death. This event, recorded on body cam footage that later received national attention, led to Reed's family filing a lawsuit alleging unlawful stopping among other grievances in the lead-up to his death. Aldermen split on the issue and debated whether approving the settlement would send a dangerous message or whether it would be more fiscally pragmatic in the long run.
The shooting has continued to undergo a probe by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, which earlier identified a pattern of undocumented and aggressive stops on the city's West Side. COPA's investigation into the shooting remains open and active, while the controversy has highlighted broader concerns, such as the disproportionality of traffic stops impacting Black and Latino drivers, a matter that is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, as reported by WTTW News.
The officers involved in the March 21 shooting have not been charged and the repercussions have extended beyond the failed settlement. One officer, Alexandra Giampapa, resigned from the CPD, and Chicago taxpayers have shelled out more than $288,000 for the defense of the officers involved. Meanwhile, the shooting remains "under active review by prosecutors in our Law Enforcement Accountability Division (LEAD)," with deliberation on whether criminal charges are warranted, according to a statement obtained by WTTW News from a spokesperson for Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke. Whether or not the City Council will revisit the proposed settlement with Dexter Reed's family is unclear at this time.
