The family of Dexter Reed, a black man killed by police after he opened fire on officers when they stopped his car, will not get $1.25 million from Chicago city taxpayers under a settlement backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, after a narrow majority of the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee rejected the deal.
On Friday, April 11, the Finance Committee voted 15-12 against the settlement, meaning it will not advance to the City Council for a vote from the city’s full collection of aldermen.
The deal has been controversial since it was first mentioned late last year.
Supporters of the settlement, including city lawyers, said the deal was needed to save the city potentially millions of dollars compared to the costs of defending against the lawsuit from Reed’s family. The city’s lawyers had estimated that cost could exceed $5 million, should Reed’s family continue to press their claims in court.
Opponents of the settlement, however, said any amount voluntarily surrendered by the city to Reed’s family would signal to police and criminals alike that the city doesn’t value its police officers and any violent encounter with police – even if they are the fault of the criminal – could lead to a large and quick payday for criminals and their families.
Some aldermen against the settlement have described the deal as “absurd” and “an absolute embarrassment.”
The lawsuit from Reed’s mother, Nicole Banks, and the attempted settlement came last April, within weeks of Reed’s death and long before either police or their civilian oversight agency could complete any kind of thorough and complete investigation into the encounter between Reed and the Chicago Police officers involved in Reed’s death.