2 resign over Black motorist’s death
Minn. mayor hopes officer, chief leaving will help quell unrest
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. Ms. 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 the first of four police officers in George Floyd’s death.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said at a news conference that the city had been moving toward firing Ms. Potter when she resigned. Mr. Elliott said he hoped her resignation would “bring some calm to the community,” but that he would keep working toward “full accountability under the law.”
Protesters began gathering again Tuesday at the city’s heavily guarded police headquarters, now ringed by concrete barriers and a tall metal fence, and where police in riot gear and National Guard soldiers stood watch. More than 200 demonstrators had arrived by early evening.
A decision on whether prosecutors will charge Ms. 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.
Mr. Gannon has said he believed Ms. 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 Mr. Wright’s family members say there’s no excuse for the shooting and it shows how the justice system is tilted against Blacks, noting Mr. Wright was stopped for expired car registration and ended up dead.
“We have to make sure that justice is served, justice is done. Daunte Wright deserves that, his family deserves that,” Mr. Elliott said.
Activists who attended the news conference called for sweeping changes to the Brooklyn Center Police Department and sharply criticized the acting police chief, Tony Gruenig, for not yet having a plan.
Mr. Elliott said the department has about 49 police officers, none of whom live in Brooklyn Center. He said he didn’t have information on racial diversity at hand but that “we have very few people of color in our department.”
The modest suburb just north of Minneapolis has seen its demographics shift dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70% of the city was white. Today, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Latino.
Mr. Wright was stopped for having expired license plates. Police then tried to arrest him on an outstanding warrant after failing to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June.
Body camera footage released Monday shows Mr. Wright struggling with police when an officer shouts, “I’ll Tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” She draws her weapon after the man breaks free from police outside his car and gets back behind the wheel.
After firing a single shot from her handgun, the car speeds away, and the officer is heard saying, “Holy (expletive)! I shot him.” Mr. Wright died of a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the medical examiner.
In her one-paragraph letter of resignation, Ms. Potter said, “I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers if I resign immediately.”
Mr. Wright’s father, Aubrey Wright, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that he rejects the explanation that Ms. Potter mistook her gun for her Taser. “I lost my son. He’s never coming back. I can’t accept that. A mistake? That doesn’t even sound right. This officer has been on the force for 26 years. I can’t accept that,” he said.
Chyna Whitaker, mother of Daunte’s son, said at a news conference that she felt police “stole my son’s dad from him.”
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said in a statement Tuesday that “no conclusions should be made until the investigation is complete.”
Prosecutors in Hennepin County, where the shooting occurred, said they have referred the case to nearby Washington County — a practice county attorneys in the Minneapolis area adopted last year in handling police deadly force cases. The Washington County Attorney’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mr. Elliott, the mayor, called for the governor to move the case to the attorney general to prosecute.
Asked to comment, John Stiles, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said the attorney general has confidence in Washington County Attorney Pete Orput’s review of the case.
Ben Crump, the Wright family’s attorney, spoke outside the Minneapolis courthouse where a fired police officer is on trial in Floyd’s death. Mr. Crump compared Mr. Wright’s death to Floyd’s, who was pinned down by police when they tried to arrest him for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 at a market last May.
Daunte Wright “was not a threat to them,” Mr. Crump said. “Was it the best decision? No. But young people don’t always make the best decisions. As his mother said, he was scared.”