Dexter Reed's brother arrested at protests after police shooting footage released

The brother of a man who was fatally shot by Chicago police last month was arrested at a protest Tuesday evening following the release of body camera footage showing the shooting in Humboldt Park.

Julius R. Reed, 24, was arrested around 6:44 p.m. Tuesday as protests erupted outside the Harrison police district, according to an arrest report and the Reed family’s attorney Andrew Stroth.

Julius Reed allegedly struck an officer with his arm outstretched and pushed the officer backward, according to a police report describing the incident. More officers responded, trying to detain him for battery, when he resisted by stiffening his body and pulling away his arms. Julius Reed, who was unarmed according to the arrest report, was handcuffed and walked to Harrison police district where he was processed. He refused phone calls offered to him, the police report says.

Charges against Reed are battery and two counts of resisting arrest, both of which are misdemeanors, according to the arrest report. He appeared at a detention hearing Wednesday and was released by a judge, according to Sheila Bedi, an attorney representing the family. Bedi said he was still in custody Wednesday evening because the jail was processing him.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.

“This young man just lost his brother and I know the plan was to peacefully protest,” Stroth told the Chicago Sun-Times. “They want justice for their brother.”

Bedi told the Sun-Times police could have released Julius Tuesday night but instead chose to keep him in jail.

“CPD officers have the discretion to release from the station anybody charged with these types of misdemeanors and give them a notice to appear,” Bedi said. “They refused to exercise that discretion last night and instead insisted on holding Julius Reed. Now the family is dealing with the trauma of the whole world watching Dexter Reed die and having their youngest son spend the night in CPD custody.”

Kofi Ademola, advocate and adult mentor with activist group GoodKids MadCity, was present during the protest and as he was getting ready to leave he saw officers “swarm” Julius before taking him down to the ground.

“I was screaming and yelling for them to let him go,” Ademola said. “By the time I got my cellphone out, there were still like seven or eight officers on top of him. When they finally got off of him, I saw that his shirt was torn open and they immediately dragged him inside the station.”

Ademola said he passed through the same group of officers minutes before without any issues and believes Julius was targeted.

“Julius is a small guy and they handled him like he was a 300-pound bear,” Ademola said. “I don’t know what the probable cause is or why they decided to grab him like that.”

Dexter Reed, 26, was stopped while driving by tactical officers with the Chicago Police Department, sparking a tense standoff before gunfire erupted on both sides, ending in Reed’s death and an officer being injured.

Reed was killed after he fired at officers who had stopped him in Humboldt Park last month, wounding one of them in the wrist, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which released video footage this week. Four officers returned fire, shooting 96 times in 41 seconds, COPA said.

The Tuesday protest was marked by clashes between protesters and police, a heckler shouting “he shot a police officer!” and one person hospitalized during the altercation.

“The press conference was dispersing and the Chicago police officers did what they’ve done numerous times in the past, which was — that in the moment of dispersal — they engaged in escalatory conduct,” Bedi said. “It was CPD’s commitment to escalating instead of deescalating that resulted in Dexter Reed’s death and the arrest of his brother on the same day that the video was released.”

After he was taken into custody, activist groups had called for Reed’s release on social media, urging people to call Chicago police.

“He is #DexterReed’s lil Bro & 20 Cops swarmed him last night, slammed him to the ground for no good reason & are currently detaining him!” a post on X from the group Good Kids Mad City reads.

Contributing: Tom Schuba