Dexter Reed police shooting settlement held from committee vote, $1.25 million deal in limbo

Chicago Tribune

10-02-2025

A controversial settlement remains in legislative limbo after a deal to award $1.25 million to the family of a man shot and killed by police after firing at officers first was not brought up for a planned vote Monday.
Aldermen had appeared poised for a tense debate over the settlement recommended by city attorneys for the family of Dexter Reed as a way to avoid a potentially more costly payout in court. But Ald. Pat Dowell, chair of the City Council's Finance Committee, withheld the settlement when it came up for a vote.
Dowell did not say why she did so. Aldermen often delay planned votes when they do not have the needed support to pass an item. It's not clear when the Reed settlement might come up for consideration in the Finance Committee.
Some aldermen believe the city should not settle Reed's family's lawsuit because Reed fired first, striking an officer before police opened fire.
Reed was shot and killed by plainclothes police in a March 2024 Humboldt Park traffic stop. Police body cam video shows Reed firing first at one of the officers who pulled him over for a seatbelt violation.
Five officers fired at least 79 times at Reed, striking him 13 times, after Reed initially complied with orders to roll down his window but then appeared to disregard a command to roll down a window on his car's passenger side, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and an autopsy report.
Reed exited his car during the shootout that ensued before falling to the pavement. One officer fired three more shots at Reed as he was lying motionless on the street. That 23-year-old officer fired at least 50 rounds during the 41 seconds of gunfire, according to COPA.
In July 2023, Reed, a former Westinghouse College Prep basketball player, was arrested near the United Center and charged with illegally possessing a gun inside the Windy City Smokeout music and food festival. That case was pending at the time of his death.
The committee on Monday did give initial approval to a $27 million deal for the family of Angela Parks, a woman paralyzed by a driver evading police in an August 2020 chase that violated CPD's strict car pursuit policies. The woman, who died of her injuries 18 months later, was hit by a Jeep speeding away from police as she walked into an Armour Square intersection.
Officer Ricardo Teneyuque drove into oncoming traffic, failed to alert supervisors and did not turn on his sirens during the chase, city attorney Margaret Mendenhall Casey told aldermen. Teneyuque followed about 15 feet behind the car he believed was stolen for a quarter mile, driving at one point at 48 mph, Mendenhall Casey said.
Teneyuque received a two-day suspension for violating chase policies. Parks is survived by five children between ages eight and 19, Mendenhall Casey said. If the full City Council approves the deal, the city will pay Parks' estate $20 million, and its insurer will pay another $7 million.
Aldermen advanced three additional settlements for a total of $4,440,000. The full City Council is set to consider those next week.