If you haven’t heard of the death of Jarame C. Reid by two Bridgeton, N.J., police officers on December 30, 2014, you need to read the following excerpt from the Press of Atlantic City website:
By THOMAS BARLAS, Staff Writer
BRIDGETON — Jerame C. Reid was unarmed and had his hands in the air when he was shot and killed by city police officers the evening of Dec. 30, police video shows.
Video taken by a Bridgeton police cruiser’s dashboard camera also shows Officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley shooting at Reid several times after an apparently unarmed Reid got out of the car in which he was a passenger.
The video of the shooting can be seen here: Link to Press of Atlantic City story.
Now, let me be upfront. Mr. Reid had a criminal record. At the age of 15 he shot at two New Jersey State Troopers. However, he served 13 years in prison and was released. He did his time. Before the release of this dashcom video came out this was all the authorities had said about the incident in which the 36 year old Reid was shot in the head by the officers who stopped a vehicle, in which he was a passenger, for allegedly running a stop sign.
Around 9:20 p.m., a vehicle driven by Leroy Tutt, 46, of Long Branch in which Reid was a passenger was stopped by Bridgeton Officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley in the area of South Avenue and Henry Street. It’s one of the city’s high-crime areas.
A small release from Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae’s office offered little about what transpired that night — ” … a handgun was revealed and later recovered. Both officers (Days and Worley) discharged their duty weapons resulting in the death of Jerame C. Reid.”
You can watch the video yourself and make your own determination. My view of it clearly shows that Reid had his hands in the air as he exited the vehicle after what may or may not be a brief struggle with one of the cops. Prior to that police in a profanity laced tirade demanded that both men show their hands and not move. I saw hands placed outside the vehicle on both the driver’s side and on the passenger’s side. Here’s how the report by the Press of Atlantic City describes the encounter:
Days approaches the passenger side of the vehicle. Days’ request for a driver’s license is quickly followed by Days drawing his service weapon and bellowing orders to, “Show me your hands. Show me your f—— hands.”
“Get him out of the car, Rog, we got a gun in his glove compartment,” Days calls to Worley, who approached the car after Days pulled his service weapon. […]
“I tell you, I’m going to shoot you,” Days shouts at Reid. “You’re gonna be f—— dead. You reach for something, you’re going to be f—— dead.”
Worley is standing with his service revolver drawn on the driver’s side of the car. Tutt follows police orders and puts his hands through the car window and keeps them in clear view of Worley.
Shortly after that you see the officer on the passenger side reaching into the vehicle and it looks like he is tugging at something. The report cited above claims this Officer (Days) removed a handgun from the car. I did not see the removal of any gun. What I did see was the officer shouting at the passenger calling him by the name “Jerome” and telling him that if he reaches for anything he will be dead. I hear a voice that may be that of Reid saying he is not reaching for anything. Next I see Officer Days backing away from the car, his gun still pointed at Reid. When Reid slowly exits the vehicle with his hands, after first saying “I’m getting out,” I hear several gunshots and I see his body fall to the ground. A bullet to the head was the fatal injury that killed him, a bullet fired from the guns of one of these two policemen.
Another story of this shooting at The Raw Story regarding this same incident includes an interviews a retired LEO who viewed the video and said he saw nothing to justify the shooting of Reid:
Ben Mosley — a retired sheriff’s deputy — said that Reid may have attempted to get back into the car when the officers yelled the contradictory order to “Stop!” but that he did not believe that justified firing upon him.
“I saw a disarmed man go down to the ground and get shot,” Mosley said. “That’s exactly what I saw.”
I agree. The video also confirms previous eyewitness accounts regarding Reid having his hands in the air. You can hear anxiety, anger and fear in the voices of the police as they shout repeatedly at the two men, and you do not hear any shouting by the men from inside the car. It is all over so very quickly. The Bridgeton Police and the Prosecutor refused to comment on the video. The attorney for the family of Mr. Reid, however, made the following statement:
Conrad Benedetto, the attorney for the Reid family, said after viewing the video on Tuesday that “you see that there was no threat to the officer, and no weapons in the victim’s hands.”
I imagine another Grand Jury will be hear this case, much like the ones that heard the cases of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and John Crawford. Just as in the Garner and Crawford cases, there is video evidence to consider regarding the killing of Mr. Reid. I wonder if that will make any difference, however, in whether either police officer is charged with any crime. It certainly didn’t before.
