Officer, police chief resign 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 Chief Tim Gannon came two days after the death of 20-yearold 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 at a news conference that the city had been moving toward firing Potter when she resigned. 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.”

“We have to make sure that justice is served, justice is done. Daunte Wright deserves that. His family deserves that,” Elliott said.

A decision on whether prosecutors will charge Potter could come as soon as today. Meanwhile, the cities of Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis and St. Paul imposed 10 p.m. curfews.

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. Several hundred demonstrators had arrived by early evening.

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.

“We have to make sure that justice is served, justice is done. Daunte Wright deserves that. His family deserves that.” MIKE ELLIOTT, BROOKLYN CENTER MAYOR

JOHN MINCHILLO AP PHOTO Angie Golson, grandmother of Daunte Wright, cries as she speaks Tuesday during a news conference outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis. Daunte Wright, 20, was shot and killed by police Sunday after a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn.