Shot by cops.. 14 miles from where Floyd died
Protests as black man is killed in traffic stop
PROTESTS erupted in Minneapolis after a young black man was shot dead by a police officer only a few miles from where George Floyd died.
The fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright, 20, was an “accidental discharge,” with the officer drawing her gun instead of a Taser, the local police chief said.
The unrest in Brooklyn Center came hours before the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd some 14 miles away, was set to resume in a courtroom on Monday.
Video footage showed a struggle between Wright and the officer. Wright then got back into the car and an officer could be heard yelling “Taser, Taser.”
“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,” Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said.
Wright’s mother Katie told reporters that she had received a call from her son on Sunday afternoon telling her that police had pulled him over for having air fresheners dangling from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota.
She could hear police tell her son to get out of the vehicle, she said.
“I heard scuffling, and I heard police officers say, ‘Daunte, don’t run,” she added, before the call ended. When she dialled again, his girlfriend answered and said he was dead.
Brooklyn Center Police said officers pulled over Daunte for a traffic violation and found he had an outstanding warrant.
As police tried to arrest him, he got back in the car. One officer shot the man, who drove several blocks, hitting another vehicle. He died at the scene.
Late on Sunday a group of about 100 to 200 protesters gathered around the Brooklyn Center police headquarters and threw projectiles. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd
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before the local mayor called a curfew until 6am. Brooklyn Park Mayor Mike Elliott said: “We recognize this couldn’t have happened at a worse time. We will do all that is in our power to make sure that justice is done for Daunte Wright.”
Last night the Minneapolis mayor declared a state of emergency and set a curfew to last from 7pm to 6am.
Anti-police protesters have already spent days rallying in the city as the trial of Chauvin, a white former city policeman, enters its third week.
Chauvin is charged with murder and manslaughter for kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, 46, for nine minutes during a deadly arrest last May.
Floyd’s death sparked worldwide protests against racism.