USA TODAY International Edition
Chief: Driver killed by accident
He says officer drew gun, not Taser, in struggle
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. – The police officer who fatally shot a 20- yearold Black man during a traffic stop may have intended to fire a Taser, the city’s police chief said Monday.
The department released body camera footage of the incident, which has rocked the Minneapolis suburb miles from where George Floyd was killed during a police arrest last May.
Daunte Wright was shot once and died after the traffic stop Sunday, Police Chief Tim Gannon said. Body camera footage released during a news conference shows two other officers approaching Wright’s car and the officer who fired the shot standing behind them.
As the officer on the driver side of the vehicle began to handcuff Wright, he broke free, a struggle ensued and Wright jumped back into the driver’s seat. An officer threatened to tase him, shouting, “Taser!” before shooting Wright. The car drove away, traveling several blocks before hitting another vehicle.
“It is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” Gannon said.
During the news conference, community members watching from the lobby of the Police Department headquarters expressed their anger as others protested outside.
“This is murder. This is white supremacy. Who’s going to stand up for our ancestors who built this land but are still kept down?” said Jonathan Mason, a community activist.
In a statement, NAACP National President Derrick Johnson said Wright “should be alive today.”
“Whether it be carelessness and negligence, or a blatant modern- day lynching, the result is the same. Another Black man has died at the hands of police,” Johnson said.
Minneapolis, 10 miles south, is on edge in the middle of the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who faces murder charges in Floyd’s death.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz imposed a curfew from 7 p. m. Monday until 6 a. m. Tuesday for three counties that include Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis and the capital of St. Paul. National Guard members and state law enforcement personnel were called in to patrol around the Twin Cities.
Police in riot gear responded to protests Sunday as demonstrators gathered in Brooklyn Center, mourning Wright’s death. Video posted to Twitter showed police firing gas and a chemical agent at protesters at the Police Department Sunday night.
“This is the wrong time for another Black man to get killed by the police,” said Dez Odoms, 30, whose apartment is near the police station. Odoms said tear gas was fired at his apartment as he watched the protests unfold. “It’s sad. This city’s crazy, man.”
Gannon said officers stopped Wright around 2 p. m. Sunday because the car had an expired registration. When officers went back to their vehicle and looked up Wright’s information, they saw an outstanding warrant, which prompted the arrest, Gannon said.
The Associated Press, citing court records, reported Wright was sought 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.
The brief body camera video released Monday shows one officer on the driver side and one officer on the passenger side of Wright’s car. The video is taken from the perspective of the third officer standing behind the vehicle.
Gannon said officers are trained to carry their firearms on the dominant side of their body and their Taser on the other side. He said seeing the video led him to believe “this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright.”
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the incident. In a statement to USA TODAY Monday, Jill Oliveira, a public information officer for the state Department of Public Safety, said the BCA was “in the very early stages of its investigation.”
Gannon said releasing the body camera footage was his decision.
“I felt the community needed to know what happened, they needed to see it. I needed to be transparent,” Gannon said.
The officer was placed on administrative leave. Gannon said it was too soon to say whether she would face charges.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said the officer should be fired.
“We cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people in our profession,” Elliott said.
Son called mother before death
Elliott called Wright’s death “heartbreaking and unfathomable.”
“Let me be clear: We will get to the bottom of this. We will do all that is within our power to make sure that justice is done for Daunte Wright,” he said.
Wright’s death “couldn’t happen at a worse time,” Elliott said, noting Chauvin’s nearby trial. “We are collectively devastated, and we have been for over a year now over the killing of George Floyd.”
Daunte’s mother, Katie Wright, said her son was driving a vehicle the family had given him weeks ago and called her as he was being pulled over with his girlfriend in the car, The New York Times reported.
“He called me at about 1: 40, said he was getting pulled over by the police,” she said in a Facebook Live video. “He said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror.”
As she spoke with her son during the traffic stop, Katie Wright told him to give the phone to officers so she could tell them insurance information, The New York Times reported.
“Then I heard the police officer come to the window and say, ‘ Put the phone down and get out of the car,’ ” she said, according to the Times.
Wright told the Star- Tribune in Minneapolis that she heard a scuffle during the call and someone said, “Daunte, don’t run.” The call ended, and when she called back, Wright’s girlfriend told his mother he had been shot, the Star- Tribune reported.
Aubrey Wright told The Washington Post that his son was driving to get a car wash when he was shot.
Wright said he was at a grocery store when his wife called him to tell him their son had been shot. He told the Post he arrived at the scene within 10 minutes and saw his son’s 2011 Buick LaCrosse partially destroyed and his body on the ground with a sheet over it.
“I know my son. He was scared. He still ( had) the mind of a 17- year- old because we babied him,” he told the Post.
Daunte Wright had a 2- year- old, his father told the paper. He said Daunte dropped out of high school because of a learning disability but worked to support his son. “He was a great kid. He was a normal kid. He was never in serious trouble. He enjoyed spending time with his 2- year- old son. He loved his son.”
In a tweet Monday, civil rights activist Al Sharpton said he had spoken with
Wright’s father and said his group, the National Action Network, “will stand w/ this family and demand justice in this matter.”
“Whether it be carelessness and negligence, or a blatant modern- day lynching, the result is the same. Another Black man has died at the hands of police.” Derrick Johnson NAACP national president
Protests at police department
Wright’s family and friends were among those who marched in the streets near where Wright was shot Sunday.
At the Police Department, a large crowd was met with armored officers who formed a riot line. The protest had been largely peaceful until that point.
Police issued dispersal orders and fired tear gas, flash- bang grenades and rubber bullets into the crowd of about 500 people, the Star- Tribune reported.
John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said protesters started throwing rocks and other objects. The group had mostly dispersed by around 1: 15 a. m.
The National Guard remained at the police station Monday.
The shooting comes after two other cases in which Brooklyn Center police shot or tased someone who died.
In 2019, an autistic man, Kobe Dimock- Heisler, 21, was fatally shot during a scuffle with police. KARE- TV reported officers had first tried to tase Dimock- Heisler, who grabbed a knife from a couch cushion before police shot him. No charges were filed against the officers.
In 2015, a St. Paul man died days after he was tased by a police officer and hit his head. The Star- Tribune reported Sinthanouxay Khottavongsa, 57, was holding a crowbar, and police responding to a report of a fight told him to drop it before tasing him. Khottavongsa hit his head as he fell and died from the injuries, the newspaper reported.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR- Minnesota, a chapter of the Council on American- Islamic Relations, said the video showed Wright was initially cooperating with the police.
“But regardless of all of that, he should be alive today, and he’s not,” Hussein said. “This officer killed him, those three officers ( at the scene) should be fired, the police chief should be fired, the city manager should be fired, and the fact that they did not even fire ( the officer who fired the fatal shot) after seeing the video yesterday is a testament to how our society continues to fail individuals in this industry of policing.”
In Minneapolis, photos on social media showed people gathering at the site of Floyd’s death, which has turned into a memorial, and painting “Justice for Daunte Wright” on the street.