The Dexter Reed case shows 𒅌how it’s possible to get an anti-police narrative going🐽 in almost any circumstance.
This wasn’t an unarmed man in an encounter th♐at went desperately wrong.
There wasn’t a suspicion 💜he had a weapon that proved, after the dust settled, to be tragically ꧂mistaken.
The police didn’t even fire first.
At a traffic stop in Chicago, the 26-year-old R✅eed pulled a gun and fired on officers before ge⛦tting killed in return fire.
The first rule during traffic stops — and other interactions with officers — is to do what the polic🥀e ask, but really, the more fundamental rule is not to shoot at the police.
This hasn’t kept the media from getting a news cycle going about the cops firing 96 rounds after the shoot-out began, often with misleading headlines, and advocacy groups agitating about su🃏pposedly gratuitous traffic stops.
Of less interest to these parties is why Reed would shoot at the 🐷cops in the first place and his prior gun charges, which are almost impossible to find reference to in news reports.
(An exception is from NBC 5 Chicago, which notes, “Cook County court records showed Reed was out on𒀰 pretrial release after being charged in 2023 with three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and one count of possession of a firearm with a revoked FOID [Firearms Owner Identification] card. He had appeared in court in person days before the shooting and was next schedu✃led for a status hearing in April.”)
CBS in Chicago , “Why did Dexter Reed traffic stop, shootout with Chicago P𒊎olice escalate so rapidly?”
Well, shoot-outs don’t usually escalate slowly.
The police tac🃏tics weren’t ideal in ൲this incident.
It is odd they cut off Reed♛’s car fr𓃲om the front rather than pulling him over and approaching from behind, which is standard practice and safer, and once the shooting began, there was potential for crossfire.
Th𒉰e stop, for not🌟 wearing a seat belt, does look pretextual.
Clearly, the police tho🎉ught Reed was a potentially bad guy with contraband in his car — and they were right.
Reed 🃏didn’t follow the ex𒆙plicit directions of police to roll his windows down and unlock his doors.
Traffic stops are always potentially dangerous for police, as we were reminded by New York City Police Officer Jonathan Diller’s brutal murder a few weeks ago.
When a driver doesn’t ꦗobey orders, it instantly raises the question whether he is just stupidly noncompliant or something worse is afoot.
Reed had tinted windows, so putting his wind🌳ow up meant he ✱couldn’t be clearly seen.
The cops reacted so dramatically, pulꦓling their guns, because this meant he poten🥃tially represented a threat — and, again, they were right.
The person who created this situatiꦅon by repeatedly𝓰 carrying an illegal gun, by having one in his car during this stop and, most of all, by drawing and firing his weapon was Dexter Reed.
His sister 🅷— who deserves slack given her gri♌ef — says, “He was scared.”
The normal way to react if you are scared of cops, though, is to do what they say, perhaps reluctantly or trepidatiously, not to precipitate a g☂unfight you are certain to lose.
Once Reed fired at the police, he represented a mortal ꦐthreat.
He hit one officer, and reports suggest he fired every round h𒉰e had.
It was only a matter of luck he didn’t kill 💞one of ꦬthem.
The cops were fully justified in firing back; in fact, ﷽it was the only thing to do.
When a situation ge💫ts that chaotic and confused, and when adrenaline is flowing, ওit is unrealistic to expect the police to carefully allocate their shots as if they were at a gun range.
Some critics point out Reed came out of the car without his gun. Bꦬut that almost certainly wasn’t clear in the moment.
Meanwhile, if shooting back at an armed assailant is excessive force, as some have suggested, what are the cops supposed ♋to do when they a♍re fired upon? Duck and cover?
It’s easy after the fact to flyspeck from the safety of a desk, keyboard or podium eve♍ry aspect of what officers do in an incredibly high-pressure, life-and-death situation, when they may not be fully aware of how many times they are firing, and every second — and perhaps every round — matters.
What 💮everyone is right about is Dexter Reed’🌼s death was, indeed, preventable.
All it took was him not trying to kill the officers who asked him to step out 🧔of his car.
Twitter: @RichLowry