Unrest flares again in Minnesota after fatal police shooting of Black
motorist
Send a link to a friend
[April 13, 2021]
By Nicholas Pfosi and Jonathan Allen
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (Reuters) -A
suburban Minneapolis police officer apparently drew her gun by mistake,
instead of her Taser, when she shot a young Black man to death during a
traffic stop, a police chief said on Monday, hours before a second night
of unrest sparked by the killing.
Family members of the slain motorist, Daunte Wright, 20, rejected the
notion that a mere accident was to blame for Sunday's shooting in
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, with Wright's grieving brother denouncing
the police as "trigger happy."
The shooting roiled a region already on edge, as last year's killing of
George Floyd, a Black man who died with his neck pinned to a Minneapolis
street under a white policeman's knee, was being recounted in graphic
detail in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, charged with his
murder.
Wright was killed just 10 miles from where Floyd, 46, lost his life
while under arrest for allegedly passing a bogus $20 bill, unleashing a
months-long nationwide upheaval of protests against racial injustice in
the U.S. law enforcement system.
Brooklyn Center's police chief, Tim Gannon, said during a news briefing
on Monday that Wright was pulled over for an expired vehicle
registration and that the shooting was apparently unintentional, judging
from his initial review of police video footage of the incident.
'ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE'
"This appears to me, from what I viewed and the officers' reaction and
distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that
resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright," said Gannon.
The Hennepin County medical examiner on Monday ruled the death a
homicide, confirming in an autopsy that Wright was killed by a gunshot
wound to the chest.
Sunday's shooting immediately ignited a night of street skirmishes
between police and protesters in Brooklyn Center, with local news media
reporting looting and burglaries of about 20 businesses at a nearby
shopping center.
Disturbances flared anew on Monday, as hundreds of protesters braving a
steady downpour and defying a curfew ordered by Governor Tim Walz
clashed with law enforcement as darkness fell outside police
headquarters in Brooklyn Center.
A crowd surged against a fence erected to keep protesters at bay, some
hurling bottles and other projectiles and lighting off fireworks as
police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and what appeared to be
non-lethal plastic rounds.
A nearby discount store was looted and vandalized, but most of the
demonstrators drifted away by 10 p.m. local time. As calm was restored,
police reported 40 arrests in Brooklyn Center for offenses ranging from
curfew violations to rioting charges.
Three officers suffered minor injuries from debris thrown at them,
authorities said at a late-night news conference.
[to top of second column]
|
Protestors jump over the turnstiles at the Gallery Place metro
station during a protest following the fatal police shooting of
20-year-old Black man Daunte Wright in Minnesota, in Washington,
U.S., April 12, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Police in Minneapolis said several people were arrested there in
connection with five retail burglaries.
'BROKEN IN A THOUSAND PIECES'
During a memorial vigil Monday evening at the spot where Wright was
killed, relatives remembered him as a good-natured father who worked
multiple jobs to support his 2-year-old son and voiced anguish over
his death at the hands of police.
"My brother lost his life because they were trigger happy," his
older half sibling, Dallas Wright, told the crowd as rain began to
fall.
"My heart is broken in a thousand pieces... I miss him so much, and
it's only been a day," his mother, Katie Wright, said as she wept.
"He was my life, he was my son and I can never get that back.
Because of a mistake? Because of an accident?"
Wright's father, Aubrey, told the Washington Post his son had
dropped out of high school a few years earlier due to a learning
disability.
Police chief Gannon told reporters hours earlier that a routine
traffic stop of Wright had escalated into a deadly confrontation
when officers ran a check on his expired vehicle registration and
found an outstanding warrant for him.
Police did not elaborate, but the New York Times cited public
records showing a judge had issued a warrant for Wright's failure to
appear in court on two misdemeanor charges last year.
Police video footage presented by Gannon showed one officer trying
to handcuff Wright next to the car, before Wright broke free and got
back into his car. At that point, a second officer yells, "Taser,
Taser, Taser," before firing a single shot from her handgun, the
video shows.
"Holy shit, I just shot him," the policewoman is heard to shout as
the car rolls away with Wright still in the driver's seat. The car
struck another vehicle and came to a stop moments later.
The police officer who fired the fatal shot, later identified as
26-year department veteran Kim Potter, who is white, was placed on
administrative leave. Mayor Mike Elliott called for her immediate
dismissal.
(Reporting by Nicholas Pfosi, Jonatha Allen and Leah Millis in
Brooklyn Center; additional reporting by Peter Szekely and Maria
Caspani in New York, Gabriella Borter in Washington, Nathan Layne in
Wilton, Connecticut and Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Writing by
Steve Gorman; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Dan Grebler, Rosalba
O'Brien and Michael Perry)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |