Jerame Reid Killed by New Jersey Police

It’s happened again; another unarmed black man has been shot and killed by police. New Jersey resident Jerame Reid, 36, was riding in the passenger seat Dec. 30 as his friend Leroy Tutt drove a black Jaguar through Bridgeton, New Jersey. A Bridgeton Police car followed Tutt, and when Tutt failed to come to a complete stop at a stop sign, he was quickly pulled over. A dashboard camera in the squad car recorded the entire encounter, less than five minutes altogether.

This footage was released Tuesday, Jan. 20 in response to a public records request. Officer Braheme Days exits the squad car and approaches the passenger side of the Jaguar with flashlight in hand informing Reid and Tutt they rolled through a stop sign. Days asks for Tutt’s driver’s license, and as Tutt reaches to retrieve it, Days pulls his gun on the pair and tells them to show him their hands. Both men oblige, putting their hands in the air.

At this point, a second police officer, Roger Worley, approached Tutt’s side of the vehicle. Days repeatedly shouts at Reid: “Don’t you f**king move!” followed by “If you reach for something, I will shoot. If you reach for something, you’re going to f**king dead, I’m telling you.” Reid responds with, “I ain’t doing nothing. I ain’t got reason to reach for nothing.”

Reid attempts to get out of the car. He opens his door, immediately raising his empty hands. Days then opens fire on Reid, shooting him multiple times and killing him.
Officers fired at least six rounds. Worley then directs Tutt to get out of the vehicle. Reid was confirmed to be unarmed. But there may be more to this tale than a bloody escalation of a traffic violation.

When he was a teenager, Reid shot at three state troopers. He served 13 years for the offense. Days was aware of Reid’s past, as he had arrested him last year for obstruction of justice and possession of controlled substance. Days and Worley are both on leave while Cumberland County prosecutors investigate the case. Days has had seven court complaints filed against him since 2013. Worley has had two. All complaints were dismissed.

Prosecutors have criticized the release of the dashboard footage, calling it neither “compassionate or professional.”
Reid is survived by his wife Lawanda and their three-month-old son. Lawanda is calling for an investigation by the state attorney general’s office, a request it has thus far denied.
“The video speaks for itself that at no point was Jerame Reid a threat and he possessed no weapon on his person,” civil rights group National Awareness Alliance founder and chairman Walter Hudson told the Huffington Post Weds. “He complied with the officer and the officer shot (and killed) him.”

Watch the Dash Cam footage below:

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Sources:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/21/1359132/-New-dash-cam-footage-shows-unarmed-New-Jersey-man-shot-9-times-by-two-officers?detail=email#
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/21/jerame-reid-video_n_6517794.html