Expert says excessive traffic stops and videos of police killings can cause trauma for some

On April 17, 2024, Bruce Davis stands in front of his garage in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, near the location where police shot and killed Dexter Reed. A home camera on Davis’ front window captured video of the altercation and the discharging of nearly 96 shots on March 21, 2024. Credit: Manuel Martinez / WBEZ

This story published in partnership with WBEZ Chicago and MindSite News, a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital journalism organization dedicated to reporting on mental health in America.

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Bruce Davis, an auto mechanic, was repairing a car in his backyard on West Ferdinand Street on Chicago’s West Side when gunshots rang out at around 6 p.m. on March 21. He ducked into his garage and waited anxiously for the shooting to stop.

The hail of 96 bullets fired by plainclothes Chicago police officers, killing 26-year Dexter Reed, lasted 41 seconds – but seemed to Davis to go on forever.

“It was crazy,” he told MindSite News. “It was like something you would hear in a movie.”

When the shots finally subsided, he ran into his house and watched the footage from the security camera he’d placed in his front window, which caught the shootout in its entirety. His sons, 18 and 24, were inside the house at the time of the shooting, but didn’t react because they were wearing gaming headsets. Davis watched the replay of the video over and over again.