N.J. Man Appears To Have Hands Raised Before Police Shot Him

A dashcam video reveals the entirety of the altercation between Jerame Reid, 36, and the two officers from the Bridgeton Police Department.

By
Stephanie McNeal
by Stephanie McNeal

BuzzFeed News Reporter

A New Jersey man who was shot dead by a police officer last month appeared to put his hands out in front of him before being killed, a video of the incident revealed Wednesday.

The approximately five-minute video, obtained by NJ.com, reveals the entirety of the altercation between Jerame Reid, 36, and the two officers from the Bridgeton Police Department.

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The video shows the two officers, identified by NJ.com as Braheme Days and Roger Worley, pulling over 46-year-old Leroy Tutt. Reid was in the passenger seat.

NJ.com / Via nj.com

Days tells Tutt that he is pulling him over because he ran a stop sign, and asks him for his driver’s license. He does so from the passenger side of the car, where Reid is sitting.

Suddenly, Days begins yelling for the duo to put their hands up and tells them not to move.

“Get him out the car Rog, we got a gun in his glove compartment,” Days says to his partner, who joins him on the driver’s side of the car.

Tutt, the driver, clearly puts his hands up out of the driver’s side window. Days continues to yell for the duo to keep their hands up.

NJ.com / Via nj.com

“You reach for something, you’re going to be f***ing dead, I’m telling you, I’m telling you, keep your hands right there,” he said.

After a pause, Reid pushes open the car door and lunges out. In the video, his hands appear to be in front of his chest. Worley fires a shot at him, and Reid falls to the ground.

NJ.com / Via nj.com

Reid was black, as is Tutt. Worley is white and Days is black.

The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the incident and both officers are on paid administrative leave, NJ.com reported.

The police department said in a statement on its Facebook page that it released the video to comply with an open records request, but it disagrees with its distribution on principle.

“The Bridgeton Police Department as a law enforcement agency does not, as a routine, consider the posting of any such video as compassionate or professional,” the department said.

The shooting sparked protests in the town, which is in south New Jersey.

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Several dozen people brave temps in the teens to protest the police-involved shooting of Jerame C. Reid #TheSJTimes

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An attorney for Reid’s wife told NJ.com she found the video to be “traumatic.”

"To see someone that close to you, it is a powerful thing. There is a lot of shock value to it," he said.

The incident was not the first time Days and Reid had met.

Reid, who previously served over a dozen years in prison for shooting at cops, was arrested on drug and resisting arrest charges last summer, NJ.com reported. Days was one of his arresting officers.

Officer Days told Worley, “Get him out the car Rog, we got a gun in his glove compartment." A previous version of this story misstated the quote.

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