Community and Advocacy Groups Call for Justice for Dexter Reed and An End to Pretextual Traffic Stops
Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts is a member of the Free2Move Coalition, an alliance of community and advocacy organizations working to create a safer, more racially equitable system of traffic safety in Chicago and advocating for the end of pretextual vehicle stops. Pretextual stops occur when the police pull someone over for an alleged minor infraction – such as a burned out taillight or the failure to wear a seatbelt – but then use the stop as an excuse to search for evidence of a crime unrelated to the original reason for the stop.
In Chicago especially, pretextual stops are especially dangerous for Black and Brown people who are consistently stopped by the police at higher rates than their white neighbors. These stops regularly escalate, many times leading to harm and in especially tragic cases, death.
On March 21, 26-year-old Dexter Reed was shot and killed by Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers during a routine traffic stop that occurred because Mr. Reed was “purportedly not wearing a seatbelt,” according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). Five plain-clothed officers from the CPD’s 11th District “surrounded the vehicle with guns drawn and gave him verbal commands to lower his car windows.” Dexter Reed was killed after officers shot at his car 96 times in approximately 41 seconds, “including after Mr. Reed exited his vehicle and fell to the ground.“
The Free2Move Coalition, including Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, has issued the following statement:
Dexter Reed’s death was preventable because the traffic stop shouldn’t have happened. Less than 1% of the 537,313 pretextual stops by the Chicago Police Department in 2023 resulted in findings of contraband; less that 4% resulted in a citation; and less that 3% led to an arrest. The data reveals that these stops disproportionately target Black and Latine communities, particularly on the West Side of Chicago. As alleged in a proposed class action lawsuit filed in June by five Black and Latino motorists, Wilkins v. City of Chicago: “Traffic stops on the city’s predominantly Black and Latino South and West [S]ides…are typically for minor violations—or for no reason at all—and are a tool for officers to search and detain minority residents.”
Along with the other members of the Free2Move Coalition, we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dexter Reed and will continue to advocate for the end of pretextual stops.
The Reed family is currently fundraising for funeral expenses, which you can support here.