Daunte Wright’s mother has run-in with police over filming

MINNEAPOLIS — The mother of Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot by a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer last year, is criticizing one of the department’s officers for briefly detaining her after she stopped on the side of a highway to record an arrest during a traffic stop.

Brooklyn Center police were assisting another law enforcement agency Wednesday night in what the department described in a news release as a “high-risk” stop related to a homicide investigation around 8:10 p.m. on the side of Highway 252 southbound north of 66th Avenue.

Seeing a cluster of police cars, Katie Wright said she pulled over on the northbound side of the highway, opened her car door and started recording the interaction on her phone because she was concerned the people involved could be hurt by police.

“All I was doing was my civic duty to pull over and make sure that those babies got home safe to their families because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to any other families,” Wright said in a news conference on Thursday.

The Brooklyn Center Police Department released bodycam footage that spans less than two minutes of the incident in which an officer can be seen leading Wright away from her vehicle.

In a statement, Brooklyn Center police union President Chuck Valleaupraised the officer for what he called a “professional response and restraint during the incident.”

In the footage, officers can be seen loading a handcuffed person into a squad car when the suspect noticed Wright and said they didn’t want to be filmed.

The officer wearing the camera then says, “She’s getting a ticket.” Another replies “Nah, don’t worry about it. Come on.” The officer then crosses several lanes of traffic over to Wright and asks for her driver’s license.

When Wright tells the officer she doesn’t need to show him her license since she had not been pulled over, he replies: “You’re going to give me your driver’s license or I’m going to take you to jail for obstruction.”

He then pulls her out of the vehicle by her arm, takes the phone out of her hands and sets it on the roof of her car and pulls her toward the grassy median.

“You know who I am, right? My name is Katie Wright … and you guys killed my son. I’m going to videotape them,” she said, gesturing to the cluster of police vehicles.

“If you take me to jail, I will sue you.”