Officers say Jarame Reid was reaching for a gun in the glove compartment when they shot him two minutes after stopping car in Bridgeton

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

New Jersey police officers shot and killed the passenger of a car within two minutes of making a traffic stop, and say the man was reaching for a gun in the car’s glove compartment. Activists say the case is likely to reach the office of the state attorney general and a grand jury.

Jerame Reid, 36, was shot and killed by Bridgeton police officers on 30 December, after the driver of the car, Leroy Tutt, 46, was pulled over for allegedly running a stop sign, according to a police dashboard camera video obtained by the South Jersey Times. Reid appeared to have his hands in front of him as he exited the car.

The five-minute video shows Bridgeton officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley pull over the black Jaguar near the intersection of South Avenue and Henry Street in Bridgeton. Days and Tutt are black, Worley is white.

In the video, Days approaches the Jaguar along the passenger’s side. He tells Tutt that he has been pulled over for running a stop sign and asks for a driver’s license. Almost immediately, Days begins to yell that there is a gun in the glove compartment.

“Show me your hands! Show me your hands! Show me your hands! Don’t fucking move! Don’t you fucking move!” Days yells. “Don’t you fucking move! Get him out the car, Rog. He got a gun in his glove compartment.”

Officer Worley approaches as Days continues to yell.

“Don’t you fucking move! Show me your hands! Show me your hands!”

“I’m showing you my hands,” says someone from inside the car.

“I’m telling you, I’m gonna shoot you, you gonna be fucking dead, you reach for something you gonna be fucking dead, I’m telling you, I’m telling you,” Days says. “Jerome [sic], you reach for something you going to be fucking dead.”

“I got no reason to reach for nothing,” an occupant of the car says, as the officer yells over him.

“Hey Jerome you reach for something you gonna be fucking dead,” Days says. “He’s reaching! He’s reaching!”

“I ain’t reaching,” says a voice which appears to be Reid’s. “I’m not reaching for nothing.”

Reid then attempts to get out of the car. “I’m getting out and getting on the ground,” he can be heard saying as Days attempts to keep the car door shut. Reid appears to push the door.

“No you not,” Days said. Days then shoots Reid after he pushes out of the car with his hands apparently held in front of him. A total of seven rounds appear to be fired by both officers. As Reid drops to the ground, Days continues to yell “Don’t you fucking move!”

Tutt’s hands can be seen outside his driver’s side window, as he continues to try to hold them up. In the background, neighbors can be heard yelling, apparently hearing the gunshots outside.

Many questions about the encounter remain unanswered. The South Jersey Times reported that an autopsy was conducted on Reid’s body, but results have not yet been released. It is also unclear what the officers’ employment status is within the department.

Three weeks after the investigation began, the Cumberland County prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae recused herself, saying she knew Days from “the community”. Activists question why it took Webb-McRae three weeks to reach the decision.

Walter Hudson Sr, an activist with National Awareness Alliance who has lobbied for an independent investigation of the case, said he believes several elements of the traffic stop appear irregular. How, he asked, did Days know Reid’s name? Why did he approach the passenger’s side of the car?

“There is a racial tone when it comes to policing in the black community, and in this particular case I will say it’s not about black and white,” Hudson said. “It’s about doing what’s right.”

Hudson said he met the acting New Jersey attorney general, John Jay Hoffman, in Trenton on Wednesday, and he expected the attorney general to take up the case. Hudson also said he expects a grand jury hearing.

The city of Bridgeton refused to send the Guardian any press releases issued on the shooting, instead requesting a formal open records request and seven days to fulfill it. Emails and calls to the city of Bridgeton solicitor were not immediately returned; neither was an email to the Bridgeton police chief.

A secretary at the Cumberland County prosecutor’s office, which is reportedly handling the investigation, referred a call to the city solicitor.

In 1994, Reid was sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting three New Jersey state police when he was a teenager, the South Jersey Times reported. He was also charged with narcotics possession, failure to appear and resisting arrest in Millville municipal court last summer, according to the same report.

The case has attracted attention. Local activists said they were planning a rally and press conference on Wednesday afternoon.