$1.25M settlement to family of Dexter Reed stalls in City Council committee amid heavy opposition

Amid heavy opposition, a City Council committee on Monday did not vote on a controversial $1.25 million settlement that would have compensated the family of Dexter Reed, who was shot to death by police officers after Reed shot and wounded one of them during a traffic stop.

“It was held. I think the majority present are 'no’'votes,” Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) wrote in a text message to the Sun-Times.

Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st) said he, too, is “hearing” the settlement was pulled for lack of votes.

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) has condemned the settlement for the “dangerous” message it sends to Chicago Police Department officers, His Far South Side ward is home to scores of Chicago Police officers, and O'Shea, too, is “guessing” that the settlement was held because the Johnson administration was uncertain it had the votes to pass it.

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), the former CPD sergeant now chairing the Council’s Police Committee said he is “not sure” why the Reed settlement was held. But, he said, “I assume there are still a lot of questions and concerns that my colleagues have.”

Reed, 26, was shot on March 21 in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand in the Harrison District, a jurisdiction among the most violent in Chicago.

Four officers fired 96 shots in 41 seconds at Reed — and struck him 13 times. The officers opened fire after Reed fired first, striking one of five tactical officers in the hand. All of the officers were dressed in plainclothes and piled into a single SUV.

In the days and hours leading up to Reed’s death, those same five officers had conducted 50 traffic stops on Chicago’s West Side. None of those 50 stops generated a single ticket. When the lawsuit was announced in April, Reed’s mother, Nicole Banks, said the officers had “executed him.”

Two months ago, before the amount of the settlement was even known, the Council’s staunchest police advocates questioned the city’s decision to settle with Reed’s family for any amount — and before the pending disciplinary case against the five officers had even been resolved. They called the settlement “hasty” and “fishy,” saying the shooting was “justified.”

Those same alderpersons expressed even more concern last week after the Sun-Times disclosed that the price tag for settling with Reeds family was $1.25 million and that reforms were part of the settlement.

“If you go to any neighborhood that’s stricken with crime, those residents are terrified to leave their homes after dark. They’re terrified to walk down the street. They want to see more cops. They want to see cops questioning people,” O’Shea said then.

“The message is, 'Stand down, Chicago Police Department. … Don’t bother getting out of your car. Don’t bother enforcing the law. Don’t bother serving and protecting communities, particularly communities with high crime rates.”

O’Shea was not appeased, even after Reed family attorney Andrew Stroth stressed the federal judge in the Reed case “directed the parties to have a settlement conference” and that the “cost of defense” would amount to “several million dollars.”

“For the city of Chicago to pay $1.25 million to the family of Dexter Reed — a family that did nothing to get this mentally unhealthy person help? It’s absurd.”

Napolitano, who has served the city as both a police officer and as a firefighter, was even more incensed.

“ We no longer have a legal department. We have negotiation department. All they do is negotiate settlements,” Napolitano said.

“Where is our line in the sand? We shouldn’t be settling at all. These officers were fired upon.”

Napolitano said he is equally concerned the settlement and reforms will pre-judge the still-pending disciplinary cases against the five officers involved in the Reed stop and shooting.

One of the officers, Alexandra Giampapa, left CPD Nov. 17. The four remaining officers remain on administrative duty.

“This settlement absolutely makes them look like they’re guilty,” Napolitano said.

“This Socialist administration does not care about that. Their goal is to demonize and handcuff our police. ”

 Stroth said last week that the $1.25 million settlement includes “non-monetary relief for a family committed to reform,” Stroth said, refusing to spell out the specific reforms.

“This case is about the unlawful and violent, escalatory traffic stop in a city that has a pattern and practice of these types of discriminatory, pre-textual stops,” Stroth told the Sun-Times on Monday.

The Chicago Police Department has used “several different stories” to explain why Reed was stopped.

“First, they said no seatbelt. Then, they said tinted windows. It was all pre-textual,” Stroth said.

“The city has spent tens of millions of dollars defending cases [like this]. Because this is a pattern-and-practice case about traffic stops and about the policies and procedures of the Chicago Police Department, the cost of defense is several millions of dollars. The settlement is not only monetary. There’s also a reform aspect of the resolution.”