Daunte Wright
In her informative article, Liv goes into detail about the shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, the protests that followed, and how readers can help the family and community affected.
The uproar of daunte wright
By Liv Akers
Image: Nathan Howard/Getty Images, NPR
On Sunday, April 11, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was killed in a police shooting. In response to the event, not unlike many to have taken place in the last year, protesters gathered in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, just 15 miles from Hennepin County, where the Derek Chauvin trial was taking place. Many Scroll readers have likely heard Wright’s name floating around online, and for good reason; here is what everyone needs to know about Daunte Wright’s death, and what can be done to support his family.
Wright was pulled over by police around 2 p.m. Sunday, which Rolling Stone claims was due to expired tags on his car. Police Chief, Tim Gannon, states that there was “an item hanging from his rearview mirror,” later confirmed by Wright’s mother to have been an air freshener, which is against Minnesota state law. Gannon also says he discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest upon pulling him over. His mother, Katie Wright, was on the phone with him at the time of the traffic stop, and heard an officer instruct him to put down his phone and step out of the vehicle. When he asked why, the officer said, “We’ll explain to you when you get out of the car.” He was instructed again to put the phone down, and hung up. When she called back a minute later, his girlfriend, the passenger in the car, answered, and informed her he had been shot.
On April 12, reporters were shown an officer’s body camera footage of the incident. Wright turned around to be handcuffed, then ducked back into the car. According to the New York Times, the officer (later identified as 26-year veteran Kim Potter) yelled “Taser!” three times before shooting, followed by a swear and “I just shot him.” Gannon claims that Potter meant to tase him, and mistook her handgun for her taser, and a Hennepin County medical examiner confirmed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound in his chest. Potter and Gannon have since resigned, and Potter was arrested on April 14 and charged with second-degree manslaughter. NPR says she made her first court appearance over Zoom on April 15, and is facing up to ten years in prison.
Image: Kimberly Potter booking photo, Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Many holes in the story remain. Potter is a 26-year veteran. For the sake of perspective, she already had over five years of experience under her belt when Wright was born. According to CNN law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey, confusing a Taser for a handgun is not an easy mistake to make. For starters, officers are to keep their guns on their dominant side and their Tasers on their non-dominant side. Unless Potter was breaking protocol in that respect, she would have had to reach to the wrong side of her body to grab the wrong weapon. Tasers are also a completely different weapon as far as weight and appearance go. In 2015, Steve Tuttle, former Taser vice president, explained that Tasers are lighter than handguns, and look and feel different. They also may have some kind of bright yellow on them, are kept in a different kind of holster, and when the safety is turned off, they have an LED control panel that lights up. Ramsey says one mistake of this nature is too many, and the bodycam footage shows there was no reason for that level of force in the first place. “It should not have happened,” he said.
Image: Stephen Maturen, Getty Images
Following Wright’s death, protesters flooded the streets of Brooklyn Center for three nights. Though they were initially peaceful, police declared them to be an unlawful assembly on the second night, as they were breaking a newly enacted curfew. As described by CNN, “Officers used pepper spray and fired flash bombs at protesters. Water bottles and other projectiles were thrown at officers in riot gear.” Law enforcement soon received help from the National Guard.
While it may be easy to feel like all hope is lost, there are ways to help Daunte Wright’s family. Independent lists a few ways to help the cause, one of them being to donate to the family’s or the community’s GoFundMe. Local teen activists also made a GoFundMe to help rebuild the small businesses damaged by the rioting, or you can donate to the Somali women-run Lakes Pharmacy in particular, which has been a repeated target of looting over the last year. KSBY News also recommends donating to Brooklyn Center Mutual Aid, since volunteering to help out in-person from Grants Pass is not really feasible. Lastly, Instagram page @holisticheaux is looking to support the mother of Daunte Wright’s child. They can only take donations of items in-person, but their PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp information can be found here. For those who do not have the money to donate, spread the word! Social media is a great way to share information from reliable sources about Daunte Wright’s death and the many other cases of police brutality against people of color.
Image: John Minchillo, Associated Press
In a statement calling for police to be held accountable, quoted in CNN, Vice President Kamala Harris said, "To his family and loved ones, you must know that the President and I grieve with you as the nation grieves his loss. Our nation needs justice and healing and law enforcement must be held to the highest standards of accountability." Change needs to be made to prevent more of these instances from happening, and there is a long way to go. This is a reminder to use your voice and demand justice for the lives that have been lost to racism and police brutality.
