Amid heavy opposition, a City Council committee on Monday did not vote on a controversial $1.25 million settlement that would have compensated the family of Dexter Reed, who was shot to death by police officers after Reed shot and wounded one of them during a traffic stop.
“It was held. I think the majority present are ‘no’'votes,” Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) wrote in a text message to the Sun-Times.
Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st) said he, too, is “hearing” the settlement was pulled for lack of votes.
Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) has condemned the settlement for the “dangerous” message it sends to Chicago Police Department officers. His Far South Side ward is home to scores of Chicago Police officers, and O’Shea, too, is “guessing” that the settlement was held because the Johnson administration was uncertain it had the votes to pass it.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), the former CPD sergeant now chairing the Council’s Police Committee said he is “not sure” why the Reed settlement was held. But, he said, “I assume there are still a lot of questions and concerns that my colleagues have.”
But Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Mayor Brandon Johnson’s former Council floor leader, supports the settlement and views Monday’s development as a temporary setback.
“A number of colleagues still had questions that they wanted answered. Holding the item allows for additional time for the Law Department and aldermen to discuss why this settlement is in the best interest of taxpayers,” Ramirez-Rosa said Monday.
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Ramirez-Rosa accused the police union’s Council supporters of focusing on the fact that Reed shot and wounded a Chicago police officer — because Reed never should have been stopped in the first place.
“You can’t just focus in on one detail because that’s not what would happen in court. The court will look at everything that transpired leading up to this tragic shooting incident,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
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“ I support the Law Department’s judgment. … The city is working on a lot of different cases and we have to be prudent and protect the taxpayers from further liability.”
Reed, 26, was shot on March 21 in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand in the Harrison District, among the most violent jurisdictions in Chicago.
Four officers fired 96 shots in 41 seconds at Reed — and struck him 13 times. The officers opened fire after Reed fired first, striking one of five tactical officers in the hand. All of the officers were dressed in plainclothes and piled into a single SUV.
When the lawsuit was announced in April, Reed’s mother, Nicole Banks, said the officers had “executed him.”
Two months ago, before the amount of the settlement was even known, the Council’s staunchest police advocates questioned the city’s decision to settle with Reed’s family for any amount — and before the pending disciplinary case against the five officers was resolved. They called the settlement “hasty” and “fishy,” saying the shooting was “justified.”
Those same alderpersons expressed even more concern last week after the Sun-Times disclosed that the price tag for settling with Reed’s family was $1.25 million and that reforms were part of the settlement.
“The message is, ‘Stand down, Chicago Police Department,” said O’Shea, calling the proposed settlement “absurd.”
Napolitano, who has served the city as both a police officer and as a firefighter, was even more incensed.
“ We no longer have a legal department. We have negotiation department,” Napolitano said.
“Where is our line in the sand? We shouldn’t be settling at all. These officers were fired upon.”
During a status hearing last summer, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings urged both sides to “exhaust your opportunities” to settle the case .
“I think it could be in the interest — everyone’s best interest, really — to try to see what you can do right now,” Cummings said on that day, according to the transcript.
“There will always be time to fight this case. And I am willing to resolve whatever I need to resolve and, ultimately, have a trial with eight people sitting in that jury box over there if that is what is needed in this case. ”
Even as he pleaded for a negotiated settlement, Cummings referred to the case as “very serious” and “tragic.”
“A young man was killed and a police officer was seriously injured as a result of a traffic stop. … That is not to judge who was right or wrong in the situation or who should ultimately win or lose this case. There are many complicating claims at issue,” Cummings said.
Reed family attorney Andrew Stroth declined to comment on Monday’s setback.
Last week, he had said the case “is about the unlawful and violent, escalatory traffic stop in a city that has a pattern and practice of these types of discriminatory, pre-textual stops,” Stroth told the Sun-Times.
A “pre-textual” stop occurs when police use a minor traffic violation, such as a broken taillight, as an excuse to search for evidence of a more serious offense. The Chicago Police Department has used “several different stories” to explain why Reed was stopped.
“First, they said no seatbelt. Then, they said tinted windows. It was all pre-textual,” Stroth said. “The city has spent tens of millions of dollars defending cases [like this].”
Committee OKs other settlements
Other proposed settlements sailed through the Finance Committee, teeing them up for a vote by the full Council next week.
• The largest — for $27 million — goes to the family of Angela Parks, a single working mother of five who was rendered a quadriplegic, then died 18 months later — at age 45 — after being struck by the passenger door of a Jeep that Chicago Police Department officers were pursuing because they believed it had been stolen.
Of the $27 million, $20 million will be borne by Chicago taxpayers, while $7 million will be covered by the city’s catastrophic insurance.
• The second-highest settlement — for $3.5 million — will compensate Nicholas Pellegrino. He suffered a traumatic brain injury when a dead tree neglected by the city fell and hit him on his head. Pellegrino was examining his car battery on a leafy residential street near his North Side home when the tree that had been the subject of several calls to the city’s 311 nonemergency number fell on him.
• And a $1.25 million settlement goes to Nicole Banks, whose hiring as a Chicago Fire Department paramedic was unfairly delayed three years because of a hearing impairment that did not interfere with her ability to handle emergency medical calls.
