In a newly released dash cam video, police in New Jersey can be seen shooting a man who reportedly had his hands raised above his shoulders.
On December 30th officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley pulled over a car for a routine traffic stop involving the suspect’s running a stop sign. Officer Days approached on the left and after some questions, noticed a gun in the glove box — prompting him to pull his firearm and shout, “We’ve got a gun in his glove compartment! Show me your fucking hands.” Worley pulls his gun as well.
In the video, the two men in the car, Leroy Tutt and Jerame Reid, appear to comply with orders to raise their hands as Days continues to shout for them to not move as well as shouting, “We’ve got to get them out of the car.” Both signals may have confused Reid as the situation escalates. He is heard saying, “I’m not reaching for nothing. I ain’t got no reason to reach for nothing,” before he says, “I’m getting out and getting on the ground.”
That’s when approximately nine shots were fired by the officers and Reid was killed. Tutt is then removed from the car and handcuffed.
One of the stranger details in the case is that officer Days knew Reid, having previously arrested him on drug and obstruction charges over the summer. It’s possible that Days would have known about Reid’s record of having serving 13 years in prison for shooting three state troopers when he was a teen. Days seems to remember the suspect because he begins addressing him by his first name.
Both officers are on paid leave, pending an investigation into the incident.
According to VICE:
Days, who is black, has had seven municipal court complaints filed against him since 2013 for alleged abuse of power, according to the South Jersey Times. Worley, who is white, has also reportedly had two complaints filed against him. All complaints were later dismissed.
Conrad Benedetto, a lawyer hired by Reid’s widow, released a statement saying that the video, “raises serious questions as to the legality and/or reasonableness of the officers’ actions that night.”
(Image: Storyful Editor)
