The family of Dexter Reed, who was killed by Chicago Police after opening fire on officers when they stopped his car, has filed a lawsuit against the city and the police officers involved, demanding the city pay because they claim officers were too aggressive and should bear the blame for Reed's decision to begin shooting at police.
The lawsuit was filed April 24 in Chicago federal court by attorneys Andrew M. Stroth, of Action Injury Law Group; Steven A. Hart and Bradley Kupiec, of Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge; and Sheila A. Bedi and Kara C. Crutcher, of the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic, of the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, all of Chicago.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Reed's mother, Nicole Banks, identified as the independent administrator of Reed's estate.
Attorney Steven Hart is among the lawyers representing the family of Dexter Reed.
| hmelegal.com
The lawsuit landed in court quickly, only about a month since Reed opened fire on police officers on March 21, leading them to return fire, ending in Reed's death. It arrived long before any true investigation of the incident by police and Chicago's civilian oversight agency will be completed.
The speed with which the lawsuit was filed led law enforcement advocates to say it indicates the plaintiffs are hoping to ride current controversy and incendiary headlines to secure a "quick settlement" from the city.
The lawsuit rests heavily on statements pulled from a letter written by Andrea Kersten, who heads the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), to Chicago's police superintendent. In that letter, Kersten said her initial review of video of the incident raised concerns over the officers' justification for the traffic stop and officers' actions up to and including their decision to collectively fire at and kill Reed that day after he opened fire on them from inside his vehicle.
The letter was not issued publicly. However, the letter was made public under a request through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filed by a reporter with WTTW News. In a story addressing their acquisition of the letter, WTTW claimed they "routinely" request such documents under FOIA, as they said "it is standard procedure for the head of COPA to send the city's top cop a letter detailing a recommendation to strip an officer of their badge during an investigation."
The release of the letter, however, only heightened public criticism of Kersten and COPA, with critics, including Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Snelling, expressing concerns over COPA leaks amid sensitive investigations of potentially incendiary events.
Following the shooting, Kersten also repeatedly made statements questioning officers and their tactics in various media interviews, despite her responsibility to ultimately lead the investigation into the incident.
Following Reed's death, various other prominent Chicago politicians, notably including Mayor Brandon Johnson, issued statements criticizing officers for Reed's death, while adding statements that they still don't believe people should shoot at police and noting the incident was under investigation.
In the lengthy lawsuit, Reed's family portrayed officers as the aggressors in the incident.
They assert officers, who were members of a special Chicago Police Department tactical unit operating in plain clothers in an unmarked vehicle in the high crime Humboldt Park neighborhood, pulled Reed over for no reason, and then "approaching him aggressively ... brandished their weapons in a threatening manner, screamed curse words at (Reed), and attempted to unlawfully enter his vehicle."
The lawsuit does not concede that Reed fired first, even though Kersten has repeatedly stated she believes that is what the evidence indicates.
Rather, the lawsuit asserts officers "used wildly disproportionate force against (Reed) - repeatedly shooting at him even when he clearly presented no threat."
According to reports, a gun with an emptied magazine was found inside Reed's vehicle.
The lawsuit further claims that Reed suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, caused, in part, by living in a high crime neighborhood subject to "hyper policing" and other alleged abuses by Chicago Police officers.
The lawsuit claims, without evidence, that Reed's PTSD caused him to react poorly to officers' commands, for instance, rolling his car window back up when commanded to roll down the other windows, while repeatedly stating "okay, okay I'm trying" in response to officers' further commands.
The lawsuit asserts police officers should have known "when stopping people in a neighborhood historically and culturally known for its heightened levels of police harassment and violent traffic stops, there is a strong likelihood that the individual lives with PTSD symptoms such as hypervigilance."
"CPD stopped Dexter Reed, disregarded the likelihood of him living with PTSD, and escalated the encounter by violently detaining him, pointing their guns, and continuing to fire their guns at Dexter when he exited the car with his hands up," the lawsuit stated, again not mentioning that Reed is believed to have fired at officers' first.
Rather, the lawsuit asserts officers were the instigators for pointing their guns at Reed at all during the stop.
The lawsuit accuses officers of violating federal law and Reed's Fourth Amendment rights, and of excessive force.
The lawsuit further levels accusations of racism against the officers and Chicago Police in general, claiming the traffic stop was "unlawful" and is part of a "longstanding practice" by CPD of allegedly using legal "pretexts" to pull over black drivers on Chicago's south and west sides, particularly in high crime neighborhoods.
They assert the officers only stopped Reed "because he was a young, Black man driving a vehicle on the westside of Chicago."
The city and Chicago Police Department have publicly declined comment on the lawsuit, citing policies against commenting on such active lawsuits.
Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, said the lawsuit represents a blatant bid by the plaintiffs for a quick settlement from the city, rather than a protracted court fight.
The LELDF is a national organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, dedicated to defending officers accused of misusing force in policing.
"This is very quick for a lawsuit to be filed," Johnson said. "It implies that the plaintiffs and their attorneys weren't particularly interested in the facts. Rather, they are hoping the current news cycle may result in a quick settlement by the city of Chicago.
"The currently available facts strongly suggest that the involved police officers acted unlawfully and appropriately in their use of force," Johnson said.
That assessment of officers' actions has been publicly shared by Scott Ando, the former head of the Independent Police Review Authority, the police oversight agency that was replaced by COPA in 2017.
In an interview with the Crooked City blog, which discusses Chicago politics and policing issues, Ando said he believed "the shooting is completely within policy and completely justified."
Ando further said he was prepared to testify on officers' behalf, even in court, should COPA seek to discipline them for Reed's death.
In the blog post in which Ando was interviewed, Crooked City noted in 2021, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit brought against two Chicago Police officers by the family of Terrell Eason, who was killed by police during a chase. In that ruling, granting summary judgment to the officers, U.S. District Judge Joan H. Lefkow agreed officers acted reasonably and within their authority against Eason, despite contrary determinations by COPA.
In the Crooked City interview, Ando further noted much of the controversy surrounding Reed's death centers on the number of shots fired by officers, which he says is irrelevant in a situation in which a suspect is actively firing upon officers.
"There are many significant dynamics that come into play in an officer-involved shooting, including an individual's perception as to when that threat is eliminated, and fear," Ando said. "If you have never been shot at, you simply have no idea what that is like."