The Cook County state’s attorney’s office declined to file charges against Chicago police officers who fired dozens of shots at Dexter Reed in a shooting that roiled the city and drew scrutiny to police policies around traffic stops.
In a memo released Wednesday, the office found that the “evidence is insufficient to support criminal charges against these officers.”
Dexter Reed, 26, was shot 13 times during a traffic stop shortly after 6 p.m. on March 21 by Officers Thomas Spanos, Alexandra Giampapa, Victor Pacheco and Aubrey Webb, according to the memo. Reed, a former basketball player at Westinghouse College Prep high school, also shot Officer Gregory Saint Louis in the wrist.
An attorney for the officers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During a news conference announcing the decision, State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said the “evidence is clear and overwhelming” that prosecutors would not be able to meet their burden of proof, calling the scene “terrifying and chaotic.”
“What happened that evening was a tragedy. A young life ended. A police officer was shot with a potentially career-ending injury and many other lives were upended and an entire neighborhood was traumatized,” she said. “This decision is not reached lightly nor does it diminish the tragedy that occurred.”
The shooting drew condemnation for what some deemed an extreme amount of force. One officer fired 50 times during the 41 seconds of gunfire, including three shots at Reed as he was lying motionless in the street, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
In all, the officers fired a total of 96 shots, according to the memo.
The memo, though, said that the investigation found that Reed “fired the first shots toward the passenger side of his vehicle striking Officer Saint Louis.” Reed himself fired 11 shots, it said.
“An examination of the totality of these circumstances reveals that it was reasonable for the officers to believe they were in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death after Reed shot Officer Saint Louis and continued shooting at the officers who returned fire,” the memo said. “After Reed fired additional shots at the officers, the officers were reasonable in their belief that Reed continued to be a deadly threat.”
Burke and Assistant State’s Attorney Lynn McCarthy, supervisor of the Law Enforcement Review Unit, delivered a detailed presentation at the office’s location in the Leighton Criminal Court Building, which included simultaneous, side-by-side videos of footage from all five of the officers’ body-worn cameras as well as surveillance footage from a neighborhood resident.
Burke stressed that her office’s role was not to review police tactical decisions or department policy but rather to determine whether the evidence would support any criminal charges.
“Our sole decision-making is whether a crime was committed, whether we could sustain our burden of proof,” she said.
An investigation by COPA, which has a different mandate when reviewing the case, remains ongoing. The inquiry by COPA is not focused on the legality of the shooting, but whether or not the officers involved in the shooting adhered to CPD policies on use-of-force.
Andrew Stroth, an attorney for Reed’s family, said the decision to not bring charges was disappointing, though Reed’s family was “not surprised.”
“This case is not about any kind of use of excessive force,” Stroth said. “It’s really about a traffic stop that should have never happened. That’s what this case is about and that’s what we’ll be advancing and fighting in the federal courts.”
Stroth said Reed’s family plans to file an amended complaint against the city that will highlight the involved officers’ histories with traffic stops in CPD’s Harrison District.
From mid-2023 through March 2024 — the month Reed was killed in a shootout — those five cops were named in at least four separate COPA investigations that stemmed from traffic stops initiated in Harrison District (11th).
According to reports and video released to the public, those five officers curbed Reed’s SUV in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street, allegedly after he was seen not wearing a seat belt.
Warning: Graphic content. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability released video footage Tuesday that shows a group of Chicago police officers firing dozens of bullets at Dexter Reed, 26, during a traffic stop in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on March 21, 2024. (Chicago Police Department)
The memo was released after investigators interviewed witnesses and reviewed camera footage, police reports and other documents.
Footage shows the officers exit an unmarked police vehicle, draw their weapons and repeatedly order Reed to roll down his SUV’s tinted windows. Reed initially complied and rolled down his window, but appeared to disregard the officers’ commands to roll down the window on the passenger side.
Moments later, Reed appeared to shoot an officer standing on the SUV’s passenger side. The other four officers then opened fire, shooting dozens of rounds at Reed, who exited the vehicle before falling to the pavement.
The memo notes that Reed was “no longer armed after he exited the vehicle” but said it was not unreasonable for the officers to believe he still was.
Reed “did not raise his hands or appear to surrender” as he exited the vehicle, the memo said, and instead was in a crouching position with his hands not visible.
The video footage reviewed by investigators showed that the interaction between Reed and the officers took place within around 71 seconds. Within 30 seconds of the officers approaching the vehicle, the memo said, Reed fired the first shots, hitting Saint Louis.
During the next 11 seconds, the officers and Reed exchanged fire, the memo said.
There was an eight-second pause before Reed initiated another exchange of gunfire, the memo said.
Then, after another 16 seconds, Reed got out of his vehicle, walked toward the back and fell to the ground.
“Officer Pacheco ceased firing within 1 second of Reed falling, Officer Giampapa ceased firing within 3 seconds, and Officer Spanos ceased firing within 6 seconds,” the memo said.
Illinois statute says that police officers are justified in using deadly force when the officer “reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances” that the force is necessary to protect themself or others. In explaining the legal analysis, McCarthy also referenced a U.S. Supreme Court decision that defined reasonableness as not judged with the “20/20 vision of hindsight.”
McCarthy noted that, according to the body-worn camera footage, the officers appeared fearful that Reed still had a gun after he collapsed outside the car, as they could not see his left hand.
“I don’t know where the gun is. I don’t know where the gun is,” Giampapa yelled as she approached Reed on the ground. “Let go of the gun.”
Forensic testing showed that Reed’s hands were positive for gunshot residue, the memo said, and the bullet taken from Saint Louis’ arm was matched to Reed’s weapon.
Eleven fired cartridge casings matching Reed’s gun were found in his vehicle, the memo said.
Per statute and policy, the state’s attorney’s office referred the matter to the Office of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor for an independent review. The agency found that the decision to not file charges is “consistent with the evidence.”
Reed’s family filed a civil rights lawsuit and reached a tentative $1.25 million settlement agreement with the city that was voted down by the City Council earlier this year.
