City leaders urge police to ease off
As protests persist since shooting, agencies seek clarification
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — Elected leaders in the Minneapolis suburb where a police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright want officers to scale back their tactics amid nightly protests, leaving some law enforcement official where were called in to assist asking whether the city still wants their help.
Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered outside the heavily guarded Brooklyn Center police station every night since former officer Kim Potter, who is white, shot the 20-year-old Black motorist during a traffic stop Sunday. Protesters have shouted profanities, launched fireworks, shaken a security fence surrounding the building and lobbed water bottles at officers. Long lines of riot police have driven away protesters with tear gas grenades, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.
People who live in the area say many of their neighbors are staying in hotels or with relatives to avoid the noise as well as the tear gas that seeps into their homes.
“We can’t just have our window open any more without thinking about if there’s going to be some gas coming in,” said 16-year-old Xzavion Martin, adding that rubber bullets and other projectiles have landed on his apartment’s second-story balcony. “There’s kids in this building that are really scared to come back.”
The tactics have not sat well with Brooklyn Center city officials, who passed a resolution Monday banning the city’s officers from using tear gas and other chemicals, chokeholds and police lines to arrest demonstrators.
Mayor Mike Elliott, who is Black, said at a news conference Wednesday that “gassing is not a human way of policing,” and he didn’t agree with police using pepper spray, tear gas and paintballs against demonstrators. Elliott didn’t respond to multiple messages Friday.
But Brooklyn Center police aren’t dealing with protesters on their own. Other agencies, including the Hennepin County sheriff’s office and the Minnesota National Guard, have provided support at the city’s request in an effort dubbed Operation Safety Net. The city’s resolution isn’t binding on those agencies.
Protests have continued since Potter was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter. The former police chief in the majority-nonwhite suburb said Potter fired her pistol when she meant to use her Taser, but protesters and Wright’s family say there’s no excuse for the shooting. Both Potter and the chief resigned Tuesday.
Sheriff David Hutchinson asked Elliott in a letter Wednesday to clarify whether he still wanted the department’s help. The mayor wrote in a letter Thursday that his city still needs help but pressed assisting agencies not to engage with protesters.
“It is my view that as long as protesters are peaceful and not directly interacting with law enforcement, law enforcement should not engage with them,” Elliott wrote. “Again, this is a request and not an attempt to limit necessary law enforcement response.”
Sheriff’s spokesman Jeremy Zoss said Friday that no agencies have pulled out of Brooklyn Center. Scott Wasserman, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said the operation’s tactics will not change.
Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat and commander-in-chief of the Minnesota National Guard, said at a Thursday news conference that he’s concerned about tactics but that police are trying to protect the community.
Shay Jones, who lives in an apartment across the street from the police station, said her 15-year-old daughter has been sick since tear gas seeped into their home. Jones, 32, also said some protesters broke a lock on the building, running through the stairs and hallways and writing on walls.
“All these ‘booms,’” she said. “Oh, man … you can’t even sleep at night.”
Brooklyn Center has instituted curfews since Wright’s death.
Local Progress Minnesota, a group of liberal-leaning local elected officials, echoed the call for an end to tear gas and decried the curfews.
“The last few nights have been marred with unconscionable acts of oppression,” the group said in a letter. “This is not how we build a safer place for one another.”
Walz told reporters that protesters might have burned down the police station and other buildings if police hadn’t intervened. “I trust our safety officials to be very judicious and think about this,” he said.
Ibrahim is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.