US police chief and the officer who fatally shot black man at traffic stop resign
The police chief of a US city and an officer who fatally shot a black man who struggled with police after a traffic stop have both resigned, the mayor said.
Mike Elliott said the resignations came after the Brooklyn Centre City council passed a resolution to dismiss both the chief, Tim Gannon, and Kim Potter, the officer who shot Daunte Wright, 20.
“I’m hoping this will bring some calm to the community,” the mayor said. “We want to send a message to the community that we are taking this situation seriously.”
Wright was shot on Sunday after being pulled over for what police said was an expired car registration.
Officers then discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest, and Ms Potter, a 26-year veteran of the police force, accidentally drew her pistol instead of her Taser during a struggle with Wright, Mr
Gannon said on Monday. Wright died of a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office.
Former US president Barack Obama on Tuesday called for a “full and transparent investigation” into the shooting.
Wright’s death ignited two consecutive nights of unrest in Brooklyn Centre, Minnesota. Hundreds of protesters clashed with law enforcement officers outside the city’s police headquarters on Monday.
The region had already been on edge for weeks with the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd, taking place just a few miles away from where the shooting of Wright occurred.
Wright’s relatives have described him as a kind man who liked basketball and worked several jobs to support his son.
“My brother lost his life because they were trigger-happy,” his older half-sibling, Dallas Wright, said during a vigil.