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.
Ho-hum…
It’s just another unarmed black male shot by police.
Ho-hum…
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When will this shit finally stop?
I can’t see the passenger at all. The driver held his hands out the window. From the video it sounds like the passenger really should have shown his hands and stopped reaching. Maybe that’s not what happened but I can’t tell from the video. I hear the passenger arguing and saying “No” when told to stop reaching.
Another example of why carrying a gun on your person or in your car is a bad idea.
That’s what I saw too. At this point, I don’t have enough evidence to form a judgment as to whether the police officer was at fault. In that sense it’s completely unlike some of the recent incidents we’ve seen where the officer had no business discharging his firearm.
This might have been a mistake. I don’t know if the guy had a gun or was reaching for it. But the cop believed his life was at risk. His brain was flooded with adrenaline. It’s easy after the fact to pick apart a video but in that moment, with incomplete information, the cop was clearly frightened.
I’m not saying he acted properly. With this one, I’d like to see the results of the investigation.
nothing surprising in the least about this.
Of course I am way too delicate to be exposed to the officers’ use of the word “fuck.” Is that the only obscenity that should be bleeped out?
In my experience, the police are hyper aware of the people they want to ‘get’ by any means necessary. They are still playing cops and robbers, because they are scared to death of most of us. It’s just a bonus for them to encounter someone on their list of bad guys.
How much longer will we live with this madness?
America, 2015. Now we are the Nazis.
What do you mean ‘now’?
Nothing has changed. Someone claiming that 2015 was when America crossed the fascist event horizon because of how evil and authoritarian America’s elites and enforcement arm are acting is the equivalent of someone in their 60s discovering that there’s no Santa Claus.
“I did not see the removal of any gun.”
Steve: At 1:29 of the video the officer on the right of the vehicle has his service weapon in his right hand and leans into the car – he emerges 1 to 2 seconds later with a silver pistol in his left hand.
Glad you can see it. My eyes are way too bad. it was a nightmare driving home tonight with SUV’s headlights beaming directly into my eyes.
My eyes must have missed it.
Is this happening more all of a sudden, or are we just hearing about it more or paying more attention?
Internet and more cameras, on police vehicles, on phones other surveillance video seemingly everywhere. That is one reason we are hearing about it more.
Steven, any chance you could turn the auto-play off on the video?
In NJ it is illegal to have any gun in any car for almost any reason except if you are bringing it home from the store or taking it for target shooting, hunting or repair. A gun should be in a locked box or trunk and never in the glove compartment. NJ has very serious laws on the subject.
http://crime.about.com/od/gunlawsbystate/a/gunlaws_nj_2.htm
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Philly_mom_faces_jail_due_to_New_Jerseys_strict_gun_laws.html
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_New_Jersey (see last part about carrying a gun in checked luggage through Newark airport to see how serious NJ is)
What he should have done is tell the cop he has a gun in the car and kept his hands visible then followed instructions.
The cop should have had training that kept him from totally freaking out. He in no way was acting professionally and did not need to shoot.
The dude would have gotten three years automatic just for having the gun in the glove compartment though.
“He in no way was acting professionally and did not need to shoot.”
Impossible to tell what was happening inside the car regarding whether there was a need to shoot. However, in the past incidents it has been said that the salient is “was it reasonable for the officer to believe he needed to shoot.” If the guy was reaching while being told not to reach, then yeah, it was reasonable to shoot him. If he wasn’t reaching and was saying “No” to the gun being pointed at him, then no, it wasn’t reasonable. We have no way of knowing, so the law gives everyone the benefit of the (reasonable) doubt.
Is it possible to disable the autoplay on the video clip? If not, can you link to it rather than embed it? It is extremely annoying for it to start playing every time I hit the home page. Thanks.