Support Unraveled
We are journalist-owned and 100% supported by readers like you.
Your support funds our investigative and on-the-ground reporting. Thank you for uplifting independent journalism!
Alexandra Giampapa was one of four Chicago police officers who fired at Reed in a hail of 96 bullets at a traffic stop last year. Now she’s a cop in Ohio.
by Steve Held and Raven Geary Jan 29, 2025
Share this article:
Updated Jan 29, 2025 at 3:18pm to reflect Giampapa’s new employment as a police officer in Tipp City, Ohio.
Officer Alexandra Giampapa, who played a lead role in the deadly traffic stop that killed Dexter Reed, Jr. last year, has resigned from the department as investigations into past misconduct mount. She was one of four CPD officers who fired at the 26-year-old during a traffic stop on March 21, 2024.
Police records obtained via Freedom of Information Act request show the five-year veteran resigned from the department on November 17. Her resignation comes months after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability opened new investigations into a pattern of dozens of other potentially unlawful investigatory stops conducted by Giampapa and her team.
Two weeks after her resignation, city lawyers tentatively reached an undisclosed settlement with Reed’s family. According to a Facebook post, Giampapa is now a police officer in Tipp City, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.
Reed was driving in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street when five plainclothes tactical officers in an unmarked vehicle sped toward his car and curbed it, then jumped out and surrounded him.
Giampapa was the first to reach Reed’s vehicle. The stop began with her shouting commands while pulling the car’s door handle. Within seconds, the chaotic scene escalated into gunfire. Video appears to show Reed fire a shot through his car window, wounding a police officer in the arm. The four officers then fired 96 shots, striking Reed 13 times.
Reed reportedly struggled with schizophrenia and other mental health issues, as well as physical limitations to his mobility
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Giampapa warned the other officers, “Don’t say anything. Do you hear me? Be quiet.”
The day before, Giampapa gave the same warning after police shot and killed a dog during another potentially unlawful stop.
Police claimed they stopped Reed due to a seat belt violation, but COPA’s Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten quickly called the officers’ justification into question.
In a letter to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, Kersten wrote, “COPA is uncertain how the officers could have seen this seat belt violation given their location relative to [Reed’s] vehicle and the dark tints on [his] vehicle windows. This evidence raises serious concerns about the validity of the traffic stop.”
Police video shows that it would have been impossible for the officers to see Reed’s seat belt. Lawyers for the officers later changed their story, claiming the stop was due to his car’s tinted windows.
The probe into Reed’s death quickly turned up past potential misconduct by the five tactical officers.
COPA is currently investigating dozens of prior traffic stops conducted by Giampapa and the other four officers. According to data obtained via public records requests, the agency has preliminarily found Giampapa violated department policy by failing to submit required reports for at least two traffic stops.
According to a CPD spokesperson, the other four officers involved remain on administrative duty as investigations continue.
Following the shooting, concerned community members held protests and packed meetings of the Police Board and Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) calling for CPD to end their use of tactical teams, halt pretextual stops, and fire the involved officers.
Pretextual traffic stops like this one have been criticized as a new discriminatory police tactic to replace “stop-and-frisk.” A 2024 study found that 80% of traffic stops by CPD involved Black or Latino drivers, with nearly a quarter of all stops occurring on the West Side. Just 0.5% of stops recovered firearms, and 0.3% led to drug discoveries, raising questions about the practice’s effectiveness and fairness.
Not only is the practice discriminatory, but an investigation from Bolts Magazine and Injustice Watch found that CPD made at least 200,000 traffic stops in 2023 that they failed to report to state regulators.
As part of an effort to address CPD’s misuse of traffic stops, the CCPSA has launched a series of community ”listening sessions” across the city. The agency is also gathering online feedback from residents, encouraging them to share their personal experiences and perspectives on traffic stops.
We are journalist-owned and 100% supported by readers like you.
Your support funds our investigative and on-the-ground reporting. Thank you for uplifting independent journalism!
Officers accused of domestic violence, drug/alcohol abuse, and lying top the list
Superintendent Snelling recently moved to terminate Officer Michael Spilotro III for his role in a tragedy that garnered little attention in 2023. Spilotro and his rookie partner violated multiple department policies in pursuit of a stolen vehicle that crashed into several others, killing 25-year-old Venezuelan migrant Angel Eduardo Alvarez Montesinos.
Detective Marco Torres, the subject of a suit against the city filed by another police officer accusing the department of covering up domestic violence, was sentenced to one year of probation and electronic monitoring.