Senior female cop who ‘mistakenly shot & killed’ Daunte Wright while trying to use Taser is named as emergency declared
THE senior female cop who allegedly shot and killed Daunte Wright by accident was named, as a state of emergency was declared in Minneapolis.
Kimberly Potter, a 25-year veteran of the force, allegedly fired her gun accidentally while trying to use a Taser after Wright, 20, was pulled over for a traffic stop on Sunday.
Tim Gannon, the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police chief, described the fatal shooting as “an accidental discharge” on Monday.
Potter, 48, has reportedly been placed on administrative duty, and the Brooklyn Center Police Department is facing calls for her to resign.
The Star Tribune reports that she is a mother to two adults sons, and joined the police force in Minnesota in 1995 at the age of 22.
She also reportedly served on the negotiation team during her tenure at the department.
During a press conference on Monday, Chief Gannon explained that Potter will “not be returning to duty until the investigation has run its course.”
Bodycam footage presented at the news briefing showed a struggle between Wright and the officer.
Wright then got back into the car and an officer could be heard yelling “Taser, Taser.”
“This appears to me, from what I viewed and the officers’ reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright,” Gannon told reporters.
Gannon said the investigation was in its early stages and based on a preliminary police review of the video evidence.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey declared a state of emergency this afternoon and imposed a 7pm to 6am curfew following widespread rioting and looting on Sunday in response to the shooting.
“The anguish we are suffering cannot translate into violence,” he said.
“Destroying livelihoods, destroying locally owned businesses that our communities have poured their hearts and souls into for decades… that will not be tolerated.”
Many protesters flouted the curfew, however, and images show hundreds of people gathered outside of the Brooklyn Center’s police precinct on Monday night.
Clashes between cops and protesters got violent at times, with police firing rubber bullets and tear gas, demanding the demonstrators disperse.
The protesters chanted “Daunte Wright” and “You can’t stop the revolution,” while others cursed at the officers.
The mayor of the Minneapolis suburb vowed to “get to the bottom” of why police shot Wright – while acknowledging that the death came at a time the community was on edge with the trial of Derek Chauvin underway nearby.
“I want to say that our hearts are aching right now,” Brooklyn Park Mayor Mike Elliott said during a briefing.
“We are in pain right now. And we recognize that this couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
Elliot has called for the veteran officer to be removed from her job.
On Monday evening, he announced that Brooklyn Center’s City Manager Curt Boganey, who publicly disagreed that the officer should be fired, was “relieved of his duties.”
At a press conference earlier in the day, Boganey had said that the officer would receive “due process” before any discipline is determined.
Last night, Wright’s sobbing mother Katie told a crowd how her son called her to say he had been pulled over by police because of an air freshener that was dangling from his rear view mirror.
She said she heard officers tell her son to put his phone down, and then one of the officers ended the call.
Soon after, her son’s girlfriend told her he had been shot.
She told reporters: “All he did was have air fresheners in the car and they told him to get out of the car.
“He got out of the car and his girlfriend said they shot him.”
According to a statement from the Brooklyn Center Police Department, officers pulled Wright over for a traffic violation.
When they discovered he had an outstanding warrant, they tried to take him into custody.
He got back into his car, and one of the officers shot him dead.
On Monday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner officially ruled the cause of death was “homicide.”
The ME declared that Wright “died of a gunshot wound of the chest and manner of death is homicide.”
A female passenger who was in the car with Wright reportedly suffered “non-life-threatening injuries” and was transported to a local hospital.
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Hundreds of people took to the streets on Sunday following the shooting with police firing teargas and flash bangs to disperse the mob.
Photos from the protest showed men stomping on the windshield of a police cruiser.
By around midnight local time, the National Guard was on the scene and Brooklyn Center Mayor Elliott imposed a curfew from 1am this morning until 6am.