Riots in Floyd city as black man shot over air freshener
Killer officer ‘used pistol instead of her Taser’
VIOLENCE erupted in Minneapolis yesterday after police ‘accidentally’ shot and killed a black man after allegedly pulling over his car because of illegal air fresheners.
Daunte Wright, 20, was killed when an officer mixed up her Taser and her pistol during a traffic stop, police said.
Angry protests at Mr Wright’s death on Sunday spilled over into rioting and looting, with police using tear gas and rubber bullets in a bid to restore calm.
The National Guard was yesterday on the streets of the midwestern metropolis which is already on edge after the death of George Floyd in the city last year.
Bodycam footage released yesterday showed the officer who fired the fatal shot shouting ‘Taser, Taser, Taser’, as police are trained to do when discharging the highvoltage stun gun. But after pulling the trigger, she realised she had drawn her pistol, telling colleagues: ‘S***. I just shot him.’
Mr Wright’s mother, Katie, said her son called at 2pm asking for her car’s insurance details as she had recently given him the vehicle.
She said: ‘He said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror [which is illegal in the state of Minnesota]. Then I heard the police officer come to the window and say: “Put the phone down and get out of the car.”
‘And Daunte said: “Why?”. [The police officer] said: “We’ll explain to you when you get out of the car.” ‘I heard scuffling, and I heard police officers say, “Daunte, don’t run”.’
The call cut off and when Ms Wright rang back using FaceTime, Daunte’s girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat, answered.
Ms Wright said: ‘His girlfriend said that he’d been shot and she put it [the camera] on the driver’s side, and he was laying there lifeless. He didn’t deserve to be shot and killed like this.’
Police in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, said they tried to apprehend Mr Wright because there was a ‘gross misdemeanour’ warrant out for his arrest. They did not say what he was accused of but such crimes may include petty theft, simple assault or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Officers say that as they tried to detain Mr Wright, he got back in his car and drove off. An officer fired at the vehicle, striking Mr Wright, but he continued driving for several blocks before hitting another car.
Police and paramedics tried to save him but he died at the scene.
After showing footage of the fatal shot being fired, Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon said: ‘It is my belief the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser but instead shot Mr Wright with a single bullet. This appears from the footage and the officer’s distress afterwards that it was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr Wright. The officer is currently on administrative leave.’
Mr Gannon said it was ‘far too early’ to say whether she would be charged.
Brooklyn Center mayor Mike Elliott said: ‘I want to say that our hearts are aching right now. We are in pain right now. And we recognise this couldn’t have happened at a worse time, at a time when our community, all of America, indeed all of the world, is watching our community.
‘We’re all collectively devastated and we have been for a year now by the killing of George Floyd. Having a police-involved shooting happen in our community is heartbreaking and just unfathomable’.
Protests at the scene began soon afterwards and dozens of people, some holding ‘Justice for George Floyd’ signs, faced off with lines of police. As the crowd grew into the hundreds, uniformed police patrols were replaced by officers in riot gear as protesters jumped on police cars and hurled rocks. As the night wore on and numbers grew, dozens of businesses were destroyed and several were looted.
National Guard troops arrived just before midnight as looters ransacked several shops close to a Walmart. There were reports of looting spreading into north and south Minneapolis.
The shooting happened ten miles from where Mr Floyd was killed. The trial of Derek Chauvin, who is charged with his murder, is ongoing amid high tensions in the city.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it had ‘deep concerns that police here appear to have used dangling air fresheners as an excuse for making a pretextual stop, something police do all too often to target black people’.
‘He didn’t deserve to be killed like this’