Tensions rose between protesters and police during a protest at the 11th District police station on April 9, 2024, following the release of video of the fatal police shooting of Dexter Reed. (WTTW News)
Julius Reed, whose brother was fatally shot by Chicago police last month during a traffic stop in Humboldt Park, was arrested Tuesday evening hours after body camera footage showing his brother’s killing was released publicly.
Chicago police confirmed that Reed was arrested during a protest at the 11th District police station, which was held hours after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability published body camera footage of the March 21 shooting that left his brother, 26-year-old Dexter Reed, dead.
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Julius Reed is facing misdemeanor charges of resisting a peace officer and one count of battery and was scheduled to appear in detention court Wednesday.
Sheila Bedi — a clinical professor at Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law and director of the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic — is part of the legal team representing the Reed family. She said Julius Reed was set to be released from custody following his hearing Wednesday.
“On the one hand it is beyond heartbreaking that on the day that the whole world watches (Dexter Reed) gunned down with 96 shots, the CPD has targeted another son,” Bedi told WTTW News. “On the other hand, it is entirely consistent with the pattern and practice of CPD disregarding the humanity, let alone the legal rights, of the people that it polices.”
The arrest occurred Tuesday evening as protestors gathered near Kedzie Avenue and Harrison Street outside the police station where the officers involved in Dexter Reed’s shooting had been assigned.
The protest, which had been peaceful, teetered on the brink of violence as several dozen people chased a man who had been heckling speakers and chanting that Dexter Reed shot a Chicago police officer.
Bedi said it appeared the arrest occurred as the protest was dispersing and claimed there was “both hostility and escalatory conduct on the part of the CPD.”
The youth-led group GoodKids MadCity called on social media for people to contact the 11th District and demand Julius Reed’s release, claiming police “swarmed him … (and) slammed him to the ground for no good reason.”
Spokespeople for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Julius Reed’s detention hearing Wednesday.
Dexter Reed was killed last month during a traffic stop in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street. Graphic body camera video of that shooting was released to the public Tuesday.
According to COPA, Chicago police officers fired 96 shots in 41 seconds after Dexter Reed appeared to have shot first after he was pulled over by a five-officer tactical team for a seat belt violation.
COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten has since urged Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling to strip four of the officers involved of their police powers pending an ongoing investigation.
