Protests after shooting by police
MINNEAPOLIS: Protests erupted against police yesterday after an officer fatally shot a young black man whose vehicle he had stopped for a traffic violation yesterday about 16km from where George Floyd was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis last May.
As angry crowds swelled into the hundreds outside the Brooklyn Centre Police Department building yesterday, officers in riot gear fired rubber bullets, lobbed stun grenades at protesters and let off clouds of chemical irritants.
The man killed was identified as Daunte Wright (20).
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was monitoring the unrest as ‘‘our state mourns another life of a black man taken by law enforcement’’.
Antipolice protesters have spent recent days rallying in Minneapolis as the trial of Derek Chauvin, a white former city policeman, enters its third week.
Chauvin is charged with murder and manslaughter for kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a 46yearold black man in handcuffs, during an arrest last May, video of which sparked global protests against police brutality.
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told media she received a call from her son telling her that police had pulled him over for having air fresheners dangling from his rearview mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota. She could hear police tell her son to get out the vehicle.
‘‘I heard scuffling, and I heard police officers say, ‘Daunte, don’t run’’’
The call ended and she dialled his number. His girlfriend answered and said he was dead in the driver’s seat.
Brooklyn Centre police said officers pulled over a man for a traffic violation just before 2pm on Sunday (local time), and found he had an outstanding arrest warrant. As police tried to arrest him, he got back in the car.
One officer shot the man, who drove several blocks before striking another vehicle and dying at the scene. — Reuters