COPA Records Show Reed Shooting Officers Largely Cleared as New Probe Targets Spanos

Overview

• Chicago police opened new investigations after a report alleged Officer Thomas Spanos threatened to beat a detective at Tommy’s on Higgins in Norwood Park; Spanos remains on active duty.
• COPA records indicate investigators largely cleared the five officers from the March 2024 traffic stop, sustaining only one of 15 misconduct allegations, with the case now pending CPD’s review.
• Weeks before the shooting, COPA found Spanos and others conducted unjustified traffic stops and recommended up to 30-day suspensions, a recommendation Superintendent Larry Snelling accepted.
• During the Humboldt Park encounter, four officers fired nearly 100 shots after Dexter Reed shot an officer in the wrist, striking Reed 13 times and killing him.
• Reed’s family’s federal civil-rights lawsuit remains active after the City Council finance panel rejected a $1.25 million settlement last year and the family filed an amended complaint in December.