Cop, police chief resign 2 days after Black motorist’s death
BROOKLYN CENTER, MINN. >> A white police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb resigned Tuesday, as did the city’s police chief — moves that the mayor said he hoped would help heal the community and lead to reconciliation after two nights of protests and unrest.
The resignations from Officer Kim Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon came two days after the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center. Potter, a 26-year veteran, had been on administrative leave following Sunday’s shooting, which happened as the Minneapolis area was already on edge over the trial of an officer charged in George Floyd’s death.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said he was “appreciative” that Potter submitted her resignation but that he had not asked for it nor accepted it.
It wasn’t immediately clear what that would mean.
A decision on whether prosecutors will charge Potter could come as soon as Wednesday. Meanwhile, the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul imposed 10 p.m. curfews. A Brooklyn Center city spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a message on whether the city would have a curfew. Gannon has said he believed Potter mistakenly grabbed her gun when she was going for her Taser. She can be heard on her body camera video shouting “Taser! Taser!” However, protesters and Wright’s family members say there’s no excuse for the shooting and it shows how the justice system is tilted against Blacks, noting Wright was stopped for expired car registration and ended up dead.
Elliott said at a news conference that the city had been moving toward firing Potter when she resigned.
He said he hoped her resignation would “bring some calm to the community,” but that he would keep working towards “full accountability under the law.”
“We have to make sure that justice is served, justice is done. Daunte Wright deserves that, his family deserves that,” Elliott said.