BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) – Police collided with protesters in the Minneapolis suburb for a second night, where an officer allegedly planned to fire a Taser, not a gun, fatally shot a black man during a traffic stop.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the Sunday shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright as “an accidental dismissal.” The shooting sparked protests and unrest in an area already on edge due to the trial of the first of four police officers accused in the death of George Floyd.
Hundreds of protesters took on police at Brooklyn Center after night fell on Monday, and hours after the governor announced a curfew from dusk to dawn. When the protesters did not want to disperse, police began firing gas canisters and flash grenades, blowing clouds over the crowd and driving some protesters away. A long line of policemen in riot gear, rhythmically pushing their clubs in front of them, slowly began to push back the remaining crowds.
“Go back!” the police chanted. “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” The audience sang back.
At the end of Monday, there were only a few dozen demonstrators left.
Law enforcement agencies had stepped up their presence in the Minneapolis area following the Sunday night violence. The number of Minnesota National Guard troops would more than double to more than 1,000 Monday night.
Authorities released body cameras earlier Monday showing the officer yelling at Wright while police tried to arrest him.
‘I’ll taste you! I’ll be your Tase! Taser! Taser! Taser! She can be heard saying. She draws her weapon after the man breaks away from the police outside his car and gets behind the wheel again.
After firing a single shot with her pistol, the car spins away and the officer hears saying, “Holy (expletive)! I shot him. “
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott called the shooting “deeply tragic” and said the officer should be fired.
“We will do everything we can to ensure that justice is done and that our communities are made healthy,” he said.
Elliott later announced that the city council had voted to give his office “command authority” over the police.
This “will streamline things and establish chain of command and leadership,” he wrote on Twitter. He also said the city administrator had been fired and that the deputy city administrator would take over his duties.
The reason behind the fire was not immediately clear, but the city administrator checks the police, according to the city statute. Now-former city manager Curt Boganey, who previously spoke to reporters, declined to say whether he felt the officer should be fired and that she would receive “due process” after the shooting.
Brooklyn Center is an unassuming suburb just north of Minneapolis, where demographics have shifted dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70% of the city was white. Today, a majority of the residents are black, Asian, or Latino.
Elliott, the city’s first black mayor, emigrated from Liberia as a child. On Monday evening, he was joined by Keith Ellison, the state’s first black attorney general, who addressed a group of protesters not far from the police station – telling the protesters to use their voices but stay safe.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this, we’re going to make sure there is justice, that officers are held accountable,” Elliott is told to protesters on video posted by a reporter for the Minneapolis television station KARE.
Ellison reminded the crowd that he is currently leading the prosecution of the first officer accused of Floyd’s death, and vowed that Wright’s death will not be “swept under the rug.”
CCTV footage of the body showed three officers around a stopped car, which authorities said had been detained because its license plate had expired. When another officer tries to handcuff Wright, a second officer tells him he is being arrested on an arrest warrant. That’s when the fight starts, followed by the shooting. The car then drives down a number of blocks before hitting another vehicle.
Gannon said he believed the officer intended to use her Taser, but fired one bullet at Wright instead. From what I saw and the emergency officer response immediately afterward, this was an accidental dismissal that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright.
Wright died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office said in a statement.
The state criminal arrest office, which is investigating the shooting, identified the officer as Kim Potter, a 26-year-old veteran placed on administrative leave.
Gannon wouldn’t say if she would be fired.
“I think we can watch the video and see if she comes back,” said the chief.
Court records show that Wright was wanted after failing to appear in court on charges that he had fled officers and owned a gun without a license during a meeting with Minneapolis police in June.
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said her son called her when he was arrested.
During the interview, she said she heard shuffling and someone said, “Daunte, don’t run” before ending the call. When she called back, her son’s friend answered and said he was shot.
His brother, Dallas Bryant, said about a hundred people gathered for a candlelight vigil Monday night that Wright sounded scared during the phone call, wondering how the officer mistook a gun for a Taser.
“You know the difference between plastic and metal. We all know, ”he said.
Protesters began to gather shortly after the shooting, with some jumping on top of police cars. Marchers also came down to the town’s police station, throwing stones and other items. Authorities say about 20 businesses in the town’s Shingle Creek shopping center have been broken into.
The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged with Floyd’s death, continued Monday. Floyd, a black man, died on May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck. Prosecutors say Floyd was jailed for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. The judge in that case declined to sequester the jury on Monday after a defense attorney argued that the panel could be swayed by the prospect of what could happen as a result of their verdict.
Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis, Aaron Morrison in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Jonathan Lemire in Washington contributed to this report.
Mohamed Ibrahim is a member of the Corps for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on hidden issues.