Police shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop Sunday in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis. The shooting fueled protests in the area into Monday morning.
Details about the shooting are still being gathered, but so far this is what we know, according to the New York Times: Officers pulled Wright over Sunday afternoon for a traffic violation and discovered that he had outstanding warrants. Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said her son called her as he was being pulled over and she told him to give his phone to the officer so she could provide the auto insurance information. Cops tried to detain Wright, but he supposedly got back into his car, which is when officers shot him.
“I heard scuffling, and I heard the police officers say, ‘Daunte, don’t run,’ and then the other officer said, ‘Put the phone down’ and hung it up,” Katie Wright said, according to ABC KSTP-TV 5. “And a minute later, I called and his girlfriend answered—that was the passenger—and said that he’d been shot, and she put it on the driver’s side and my son was laying there lifeless.
His car traveled several blocks and crashed into another vehicle, but passengers in that car were not injured. Wright’s girlfriend was inside the car when he was shot, but she did not sustain life-threatening injuries.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is currently investigating the shooting. The officers are believed to have had their body cameras on, and dash cam video may also be available. Activists are calling for the immediate release of that footage, if it is available.
Civil unrest broke out in Brooklyn Center on Sunday decrying the shooting, but protesters eventually calmed. A curfew was enforced until 6 a.m. Monday.
Wright’s killing comes as the Twin Cities region continues to be on edge as the murder trial of trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis cop who killed George Floyd, is set to continue in a courtroom less than 10 miles away.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement posted late Sunday night on Twitter that he is giving the situation close attention.
“I am closely monitoring the situation in Brooklyn Center,” he said. “Gwen and I are praying for Daunte Wright’s family as our state mourns another life of a Black man taken by law enforcement.”
DISCUSSION
He had an outstanding 20. I believe he was pulled over because he had air fresheners hanging from the mirror. None of this adds up to a shooting. For those that say he was fleeing, Tenn v. Garner states that it is a violation of the 4th Amendment to shoot a fleeing suspect unless the officer can prove that the suspect poses and immediate threat to the safety of others.
Wright was riding around with his gf. No weapon (if it was the officers involved would be screaming from the rooftops) was involved. He is 20 years old, got scared coz cops+POC=DEAD, and rabbited. Unless the guy was wanted for let’s say, MULTIPLE MURDERS (Atlanta Spa Shooting), there was absolutely no need to clear your weapon and put it in use. Oh wait, the Atlanta suspect was apprehended unharmed! Imagine that!
Most people on here know I am former LE, so let me break this down for the grays:
1. Pulling someone over for having an air freshener hanging from the mirror is a bitch move. Either you have nothing to do or you were looking for anything to pull a black man over.
2. After you run his plates and DL and it comes back he has a 20 on him. You can calmly walk back to the stopped vehicle, ask him to exit the vehicle, and advise him of the situation.
3. You stand between him and the vehicle. You calmly tell him how to take care of the situation and place him under arrest.
It is easy. I have done it many times. Some have tried to run but most cooperate because a. I am not yelling at the top of my lungs. b. I am purposefully trying to deescalate the situation. c. I am not trying to prove I am a badass. Those that run were taken down and taken into custody. Some got away from me but the radio got them a block away. And if it didn’t get them a block away, they got picked up later that day. There have been occasions where the suspect turned himself in because he knew he now has a felony flee/elude.
It’s not that hard. Ask all the white guys that get arrested. Most don’t have a scratch on them. If they do, again its a scratch and not a bullet wound.