Is Dexter Reed the next George Floyd?



After the Chicago police shooting of Dexter Reed, the left seems to have found its next George Floyd.

Reed, a 26-year-old black man, was pulled over by police officers for not wearing a seatbelt. After the stop escalated into an altercation where he pulled a weapon and fired on police officers, one cop was injured and Reed sustained fatal injuries.

“I think that the mainstream media is trying to turn this into, like, the new George Floyd,” Sara Gonzales says before reviewing the body cam footage — which tells a different story than the accepted narrative.

Reed is seen initially complying with an officer’s order to roll down his window before rolling it up and refusing to comply. When the officer attempted to get him to open his car door, Reed began shooting at officers.

“It’s a lot of shots being fired at the cops,” Gonzales notes.

Eric July believes it’s not as black and white as the media is painting it. “If we look at it with zero nuance,” he says, we’ll see that a “person got shot and killed over seat belt.”

“That’s how essentially it’s going to be worded, though that’s not entirely accurate, and it’s just a little bit more complicated,” he says, noting that to go from not complying to attempting to shoot and kill someone is never the right move.

“That is the ultimate, utmost escalation,” July says.

While July didn’t believe the cops' reaction was right either, he believes the media’s reaction makes it worse.

“I hate that the conversation immediately goes to race, because then at that point, what it does is absolve them of everything,” he explains.


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6 mainstream headlines about Dexter Reed's death + the REAL story



The following is a list of mainstream headlines regarding Dexter Reed, a 26-year-old black male who was killed on March 21 in Chicago:

  • Dexter Reed shot, killed by Chicago police after traffic stop —The Washington Post
  • Letters: Police shooting of Dexter Reed ‘reeks of fear, bias and poor training' —Chicago Tribune
  • Deadly Chicago traffic stop where police fired 96 shots raises serious questions about use of force —AP News
  • Wild video shows Chicago police fired nearly 100 shots in less than a minute during fatal traffic stop —New York Post
  • Why did Dexter Reed traffic stop, shootout with Chicago Police escalate so rapidly? —CBS News
  • Killing of Dexter Reed raises questions about Chicago police reform. ‘The message is, go in guns blazing’ —Chicago Sun-Times

“You might after seeing those headlines … think that the police just executed this young black man, which is what the left and the Democrats and the media would love you to think,” says Dave Rubin.

“Of course that is not true,” he continues, adding that “[Reed] shot first.”

He then displays a tweet from Ian Miles Cheong with more details regarding the incident:

“This was not an execution,” despite “how the mainstream media frames all of this,” says Dave.

To learn more, watch the clip below.


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Family outraged at Chicago police after black man who apparently shot at cops first was fatally struck by return fire



A family is demanding answers after their loved one — 26-year-old Dexter Reed — died after apparently firing on Chicago police officers during a traffic stop last month.

The traffic stop went awry almost immediately.

Around 3 p.m. on March 21, five members of a tactical unit with the Chicago Police Department pulled Reed over ostensibly because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

One officer ordered Reed to roll down his window. Reed, who was in the driver's seat, initially obliged but then almost as quickly began rolling the window back up again.

"Roll the window down," the officer demanded, according to police footage released Tuesday. "What are you doing? Roll that one down too. Hey! Don't roll the window, don't roll the window up. Do not roll the window up. Unlock the doors."

Soon afterward, Reed apparently produced a weapon and shot at an officer near the passenger door. How many shots Reed fired is unclear, but at least one of his bullets wounded the officer in the forearm, a statement from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability said. The officer's current condition is unknown.

The other four officers almost instantly returned fire on the suspect, unleashing a barrage of bullets in under 40 seconds. Reports have not stated whether Reed continued to fire his weapon during this time, but video evidence shows that he drove his car briefly forward, striking a parked car.

Reed then exited the vehicle and ran around behind it, though officers likely had no way of knowing he had left his gun in the front seat and was at that point unarmed. While he was standing near the left taillight of his SUV, Reed was hit several more times by police fire and collapsed to the ground before one officer fired three more shots, video showed.

Officers, all of whom were reportedly wearing street clothes, then apparently attempted to render aid. Reed was eventually transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"Review of video footage and initial reports appears to confirm that Mr. Reed fired first," the COPA statement said.

Despite Reed's apparent noncompliance and the evidence indicating that he started the gunfire, the family still believes the police response — 96 total shots — was unreasonable.

"Why did they shoot him them many times?" Reed's mother asked during an interview with CNN. "He's already dead. Why you starting shooting him like that?"

"They shot him down like an animal."

— (@)

Some have also raised questions about the pretense of the traffic stop and the officers involved in it. CBS 2 asked former Chicago Police First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio whether tactical units often initiate relatively mundane traffic stops. Andrea Kersten, COPA chief administrator, wondered in a letter last week whether "the officers could have seen this seat belt violation given their location relative to [the] vehicle and the dark tints on vehicle windows."

"[The incident] started with an unconstitutional, pretextual, and unnecessary stop," claimed an attorney representing the family.

COPA has called for four of the five officers involved to be suspended while an investigation into the matter continues.

On Tuesday night, Reed's younger brother, 24-year-old Julius Reed, was arrested during a protest that broke out near a Chicago police station after footage of the shootout was released. The younger Reed was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery and two counts of misdemeanor resisting arrest, prompting demands for his release on social media.

"He is #DexterReed's lil Bro & 20 Cops swarmed him last night, slammed him to the ground for no good reason & are currently detaining him!" tweeted GoodKidsMadCity, a race-based group that calls for abolishing police.

Whether Julius Reed remains in custody is unclear.

— (@)

Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also seemed to side with Reed's family over members of his city's police force. "As mayor and as a father raising a family, including two Black boys on the West Side of Chicago, I am personally devastated to see yet another young Black man lose his life during an interaction with the police," he said. "Our heart breaks for the family of Dexter Reed. They are grieving the loss of a son, a brother, and a nephew."

Others, however, suggested that return fire was inevitable once Reed apparently fired first. "You can't shoot a cop and expect not to get shot in return," former Chicago police officer Charles Ramsey said on CNN, noting he does have some concerns about the final three shots on Reed. "That's just the way it is."

Professor David Harris of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law made a similar statement to CBS 2. "If you fire at police, you should expect return fire," Harris said. "There's just no other way of looking at it."

Even CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez wrote in a since-deleted tweet, "The initial response from police here isn't so much what's in question. You get shot at, you shoot back."

Former Police First Deputy Supt. Riccio also noted that Reed was "carrying a gun unlawfully in his vehicle" and disobeyed officers' commands.

"You know, what was his intention?"

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