A New Jersey traffic stop on Dec. 30 ended in the police fatally shooting the passenger in the car. The Bridgeton Police Department released audio and video recorded by the squad car’s dashboard camera on Tuesday showing a several-minute interaction that escalated quickly, as one of the officers describes seeing a gun in glove compartment of the car. (You can watch the video here, but as a warning it is graphic.)
Here’s how the Associated Press described what happened next:
Screaming over and over “Don’t you f—ing move!” and “Show me your hands!” at the man in the passenger seat, the officer reached into the car and appeared to remove a silver handgun. Then, the passenger, despite being warned repeatedly not to move, stepped out of the Jaguar, his hands raised about shoulder level. The officers opened fire, killing him.
The blue Jaguar, driven by Leroy Tutt, was pulled over by the officers around 9:20 p.m. on Dec. 30 for not stopping at a stop sign. Jerame Reid was in the passenger seat when Bridgeton police officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley approached the car. All of the men are black, except for Officer Worley, who is white. Days approached the window on the passenger-side where Reid was seated. “Reid, 36, spent about 13 years in prison for shooting at three state troopers when he was a teenager,” according to the Associated Press. “And Days knew who he was; Days was among the arresting officers last year when Reid was charged with several crimes, including drug possession and obstruction.”
Here’s a partial transcript of the interaction from the South Jersey Times:
Officer Braheme Days (:57): How are you all doing?
Leroy Tutt (:58): How are you?
Days (1:01): Officer Days, Bridgeton police. The reason I’m pulling you over … you went right through that stop sign back there.
Tutt (1:04): Where at?
Days, (1:06): Right on, uh, South Pine Street.
Tutt (1:08): Alright.
Days (1:09): You got your driver’s license?
Tutt (1:10): Yeah, I’ve got my driver’s license.
Days (1:12) (to passenger): What’s up, man? Can you grab it for me? (to driver)
Response unintelligible.
Days (1:18) (draws gun): Show me your hands. Show me your (expletive) hands! Show me your hands. Don’t (expletive) move.
(Worley comes into picture, gun appears to be drawn)
Days: Don’t (expletive) move! Don’t you (expletive) move.
Days, (1:27):Get him out of the car, Rog. We’ve got a gun in his glove compartment. Don’t you (expletive) move.
Days appears to remove a silver object, 1:30.
Reid, (1:32): I’ve got my hands up.
Days: Don’t you (expletive) move! Show me (expletive) hands!
Officer Roger Worley (simultaneously): DON’T MOVE! (speaks into radio)
Days: Don’t you (expletive) move!
Worley (1:40) (into radio): Let’s get more units out here.
Days: DON’T YOU (expletive) MOVE!
Reid: unintelligible
Worley: DON’T (expletive) MOVE!
Days (1:44): I’m telling you, I’m gonna shoot you. You’re gonna be (expletive) dead. I’m telling you.
Reid: I ain’t doing nothing.
Days (1:47): You reach for something, you’re going to be (expletive) dead. I’m telling you.
Reid (1:49): I ain’t even reaching for nothing, bro. I ain’t go no reason to reach …
Days: I’m telling you … I’m telling you. Keep your (expletive) hands right there. Hey Jerame, you reach for something, you gonna be (expletive) dead.
Worley (speaks into his radio)
Reid (1:56): I ain’t reaching.
Days (1:57): He’s reaching. He’s reaching.
Reid (1:58): I ain’t reaching.
Days: Show me your (expletive) hands.
Reid (2:00): I’m getting out and getting on the ground.
Worley: Yo!
Reid: I’m getting out and getting on the ground.
Days: No you’re not. No you’re not.
Worley: Don’t get out of the car!
Reid: I’m getting out.
Days (2:04): No you’re not. Don’t (expletive) move!
Reid (standing up): I’m getting out.
Car door opens, Reid stands up, 2:06
Days: Don’t you—
Officers open fire, 2:07
Days (2:10): (to driver) Don’t you (expletive) move!
Bystanders begin shouting.
Worley, (2:15): Step out of the car. Step out of the car! Get on the (expletive) ground.
Response unintelligible.
Worley: Get on the ground now!
Worley (2:25): Somebody cuff him. Somebody cuff him!
Days: Yo, right here. Cuff him, cuff him, right there.
Radio chatter, new officer walks onscreen. Crowd shouting.
Days: We’re good, we’re good, we’re good. Just stay right here, alright?
Other officer: Alright.
Voice offscreen, (2:30): Block off this intersection.
Tutts placed in police car, (3:30).
“The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the use of deadly force in the fatal shooting, the South Jersey Times reports. “An autopsy was conducted the following day, but the results haven’t been made public.”
