Mother of man fatally shot by IMPD calls for independent investigation
Click the video below to watch a replay of the press conference of the mother of Dreasjon “Sean” Reed and her attorneys as shown on WISH-TV’s Facebook page. App users can go online to watch the video.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The mother of Dreasjon “Sean” Reed and her attorneys on Wednesday had a public news conference to call for an independent investigation of his fatal shooting by city police.
Demetree Wynn, mother of Dreasjon “Sean” Reed, and attorneys Swaray Conteh and Fatima Johnson spoke in a parking lot adjacent to the Michigan Road Library at West 62nd Street and North Michigan Road.
The parking lot is near where Reed was shot and killed May 6 following a pursuit with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. Reed streamed the chase on Facebook Live. WISH-TV’s YouTube page has more than an hour of Sean Reed’s Facebook Live post. Reed’s last words were expletives toward the police chasing him.
Police say Reed and an IMPD officer exchanged gunfire before he was fatally shot. No police officers were hurt.
Johnson says that claims from IMPD that Reed fired two shots at IMPD officers is not true.
“Dreasjon Reed, Sean Reed, did not shoot a gun, did not point a gun, did not brandish a gun at an officer,” said Johnson.
After the shooting, the Facebook Live continued and an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer was heard saying “looks like it’s gonna be a closed casket, homie.” IMPD suspended the officer, who has not been named.
“To release the names of the person who shot at Dreasjon Reed and the officer who made that awful comment about closed casket. We need his name I swear to investigate into the background of these people,” said Conteh.
The family also wants the coroner’s report as well as the names of every officer that was on the scene within 30 minutes of the incident.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears has called on an independent prosecutor to look into whether criminal charges should be filed. IMPD’s Critical Incident Response Team is handling the criminal investigation. An internal affairs investigation is also ongoing, IMPD has said.
After Wynn’s news conference Wednesday, IMPD Chief Randal Taylor also called for an independent prosecutor. He released a statement that read:
“Nearly a month since the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office declined to review the criminal investigation of Mr. Reed’s death, we continue to await the appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee this process. Our community is rightly calling for the release of information and the fulfillment of our commitment to a transparent investigation with monitoring from federal authorities. This simply cannot occur without the direction and oversight of an independent prosecutor. This is unacceptable. Our community and this police department deserve better from the criminal justice system. I join our community members in calling on the Marion County Superior Court to immediately appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation as it proceeds, release information as soon as is possible, and make a swift and thorough charging determination based on the facts of the case.”
The attorneys say they have evidence that shows Reed never shot at officers. The only evidence they would describe is a Facebook video from two women the day the shooting happened. In the video the women say that they saw police taze Reed then shoot him. The video below contains language that may be offensive to some viewers.
IMPD says they have had contact with Reed’s family and their attorney’s within the last week. They say that the attorney’s have not provide them with any information or witness accounts. Conteh says that is part of the police officer’s duty, not his.
In a statement made before the news conference IMPD said in part “IMPD has repeatedly asked that any members of the community who may have witnessed the incident or who may know of additional video share that information with investigators. To this point, no one has come forward with such information.”
