Protests Erupt in Minneapolis Following Police Shooting of Daunte Wright
By: Kayla Pasacreta
After a police officer fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop just 10 miles from where George Floyd was killed, protests have again erupted in Minneapolis.
Here’s what you need to know:
The shooting took place on Sunday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Daunte Wright called his mother when he was stopped by the police. His mother, Katie Wright, says that her son told her he was being pulled over for having air fresheners hanging out of his rearview mirror. By the time she tried calling her son back, he had died.
“He called me at about 1:30. He said he was getting pulled over by the police. And I said ‘Why you getting pulled over?’ And he said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rear-view mirror. I said, ‘OK take them down,’” Wright said, adding that she could hear a scuffle break out and someone yelling, “Daunte, don’t run.”
During a press conference Monday, police released bodycam footage of the incident. Brooklyn Center Police chief Tim Gannon called the fatal shooting an “accidental discharge”, stating that the police officer meant to use a taser instead of a gun. In the bodycam video, the officer is heard yelling “taser” multiple times in the video. After realizing she fired a gunshot, the officer is heard saying, "I just shot him,"
Officers say Wright was initially stopped because of expired tags, and they later found an arrest warrant when performing a search of his drivers license. Daunte Wright’s older brother, Damik Bryant, told CNN that he thinks his brother did not know he had a warrant out for his arrest. Daunte had first texted his brother to let him know that he got pulled over to ask for his insurance information.
The officer is currently on administrative leave.
Wright’s family has pleaded for peace, but some protestors turned violent leading to a spar with local police. By nightfall, police fired rounds of tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs at around 500 protesters who had gathered near the Brooklyn Center police headquarters and defaced the signage, the Daily Beast reports. National Guard troops (already on-call amid the ongoing Derek Chauvin trial), entered the neighborhood around midnight on Sunday.
President Biden spoke on the shooting:
“I haven’t called Daunte Wright’s family, but our prayers are with their family. It was a tragic thing that happened,”
He also added, “But in the meantime, I want to make it clear again: There is absolutely no justification, none, for looting. No justification for violence. Peaceful protests? Understandable,”
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said Monday that the officer involved in the shooting should be removed from duty: "We cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people and in our profession," Elliott said. "And so I do fully support releasing the officer of her duties."
Many on social media have spoken out about the incident, believing this was another police death that should have been avoided.
