Activists seek answers in police shooting of unarmed black man

Dashcam footage released by the Bridgeton Police Department shows an unarmed black man attempt to step out of his car, clearly raising his hands, when two police officers opened fire, killing him.

The Dec. 30 video of the shooting death of Jerame Reid, 36, confirms what witnesses saw, said activist Walter Hudson of the National Awareness Alliance.

“Looking at the video, you can clearly see his arms are up,” Hudson said. “The officer is threatening him and telling him he’s going to kill him, he tells him to get out of the car, he gets out with his hands up, and the video speaks for itself. He’s shot.”

The two officers who both fired on Reid, Braheme Days and Roger Worley, are black and white, respectively. They have been placed on desk duty pending an investigation.

Hudson wants the state attorney general’s office to take over the investigation, given that Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McCrae recused herself three weeks after the murder on the grounds that she knew Days.

“The community has spoken that they have no faith and trust in the prosecutor’s office,” Hudson said. “We want a fair and impartial investigation and a representation of the facts through the grand jury.”

In a Jan. 20 statement announcing the release of the video in compliance with an Open Records Act request by the South Jersey Times, the Bridgeton Police Department said it “fully supports the officers involved as well as the legal process this incident is subject to.”

Hudson, who is planning protests in Bridgeton and around Cumberland County to demand the attorney general take over the case, stressed that the protests will be anti-police brutality, not anti-police.

“We have some good officers out there,” Hudson said. “[But] Jerame Reid deserves to be with us today. And he’s not with us today because of overzealous rogue police officers.”

Video of the incident (below) shows officers Days and Worley pull over the vehicle for running through a stop sign.

Reid was in the passenger seat. The video shows Officer Days shout “Show me your hands!” and say there is a gun in the glove compartment.

As Days shouts “Don’t move!” Reid opens the passenger door and stands up with his hands out. Both officers fire at Reid, killing him.

Below, see video of the traffic stop, posted online by NJ.com.

Caution: contains graphic violence