CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A couple of Chicago aldermen are raising concerns that the City has reached a financial settlement with the family of a man who was shot to death by police after he shot and wounded an officer last spring.
“Something doesn’t smell right here,” says 19th Ward Alderman Matt O’Shea.
O’Shea has a sizable number of police officers who live in his community, and he says he cannot understand why the City would rush to give the family of Dexter Reed a financial settlement.
He says he’s surprised and frustrated by it.
“Dexter Reed shot at and struck a Chicago policeman, a policeman who, as of today, is still not back on the job, still has more surgeries ahead of him,” says O’Shea.
“Dexter Reed attempted to murder those Chicago police officers that day, and here we’re talking about a settlement, giving potentially a seven-figure settlement.”
The head of the Chicago City Council Police Committee told the Chicago Sun-Times the City’s proposed offer, which hasn’t been revealed to even alders yet, “smells fishy”.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has raised questions about why officers pulled over Reed’s vehicle in the first place and about how fierce the police response was to Reed opening fire in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand.
Four Chicago police officers fired 96 bullets at Dexter Reed after he had shot and wounded a fifth officer during a traffic stop last March. Reed was hit 13 times and killed.
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