A key City Council panel on Friday rejected a $1.25 million settlement to the family of Dexter Reed, who was killed in a hail of Chicago police gunfire after he shot and wounded an officer during a controversial West Side traffic stop last year.Two months after the payout had stalled in the Finance Committee amid bitter opposition from some of the Council’s staunchest police allies, it was turned down by a 12-15 vote, blocking it from consideration by the full Council next week.City lawyers had recommended the settlement, arguing that taking the case to court would cost taxpayers several times as much money to defend with outside counsel.But a vocal bloc of Council members rejected settling in a case that saw Reed fire the first shot before officers instantly returned dozens of bullets that continued even after the 26-year-old went down, authorities have said.“I don't want to be associated with any conversation that justifies the shooting of Chicago police officer. This is a bad day for Chicago, if this is the way the conversation is going to go,” Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) said. Dexter Reed.Provided But the conversation veered from the direction sought by protesters and activists since Reed’s killing in March 2024, which sparked the city’s latest polarizing questions around police use of force and how officers choose to conduct traffic stops.Reed was stopped for an alleged seatbelt violation in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, where five plainclothes Harrison District officers wearing badges and bulletproof vests approached Reed’s SUV with heavily tinted windows, police bodycam video shows.Reed resisted orders to roll down his car windows or open the door, and as officers shouted at him, he shot one of the officers in the hand, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings.The four other officers returned 96 shots at Reed in 41 seconds, with one of them firing at least 50 rounds — including three as Reed lay “motionless on the ground,” according to former COPA Administrator Andrea Kersten.Kersten, who stepped down earlier this year amid opposition from the city’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, said the shooting raised “grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force.”Reed’s mother, Nicole Banks, filed suit a month after the shooting, claiming the officers had “executed him.” Her attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. Related Chicago cops have been making fewer traffic stops, but more are ending in violence City lawyers recommended approving the settlement, with city Deputy Corporation Counsel Caroline Fronczak underscoring the “risk of legal and financial exposure” in taking the federal suit to trial. Legal defense costs alone could run up to $5 million, Fronczak said.Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), who voted to settle, suggested he empathized with Reed’s reaction to having someone in plainclothes walk up to his car “in a highly gang-infested area” of the 3800 block of West Ferdinand.“I couldn't imagine what was going on in the young man’s head. He shouldn't have had a gun, he shouldn't have did what he did. But if somebody would have walked up on my car over in that neighborhood, I don't know how I would have reacted. I'm just being real with you,” Burnett said. “There's a lot of shooting and killing and gang banging that goes on in that community.”Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) slammed Burnett for that sentiment.“When I hear someone vocalize that they don't know if they would do anything different than what this young man did to try to take the lives of Chicago police officers, if they were in that same situation, what the hell is going on in this room?” Lopez said.“We have an officer who nearly lost his hand because this young man took it upon himself to open fire," Lopez added. "Yes, his loss is unfortunate, but he is the responsible party for it. You want to settle because you say it's cheaper. You are sending a message to every criminal, and you are also sending a message to every officer on the street, that their lives do not matter any more."Another big settlementThe Finance Committee did sign off on a $32 million settlement for the family of Bryce Summary, a St. Louis man who lost his legs when he was struck downtown by a vehicle being chased by police officers in 2022.Police had tried to pull over a driver with a tinted license plate cover, and the driver took off, striking another car and eventually hitting Summary, who pushed his wife and sons out of the way on Michigan Avenue near Ohio Street, according to a lawsuit.The officers didn’t initially activate their lights and sirens, and shouldn’t have launched a pursuit over a license plate issue, the suit claimed. The settlement, which will get a full Council vote next week, would be covered by $20 million in taxpayer funds, and $12 million by city insurance. ...read more read less