Daunte Wright’s death triggers another wave of national outrage

Daunte Wright Protest at GAP

Photo by Andrew Ratto via Wikimedia Commons

Daunte Wright Protest at GAP

   Anger swept through the nation following news of the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man who died at the hands of Kim Potter, a policewoman claiming to have mistakenly shot him with her Glock 17 instead of a taser.

   Daunte Wright was initially pulled over in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota for expired tags and a “forbidden air freshener” that was hanging in the rearview mirror.

   Wright, who had an open warrant from a December 2019 attack where he allegedly attempted to choke and rob a woman of $820, died on the scene after Potter fired.

   Released body camera footage of the incident reveals Potter approaching the vehicle and becoming engaged with Wright. She yelled “taser” before reaching for a weapon that was fired. She then exclaimed that she shot him.

   After hearing of the incident, some individuals in communities both locally and nationally are enraged. Protesters and rioters took to the streets to express their anger and their disbelief that a 26-year police veteran mistook a Glock with a bright yellow taser.

   In a public statement, Wright’s mother explained the last phone conversation she had with her son before he was killed.

   “When I called back, the girl that he had in the car answered the phone, and it was on FaceTime,” she explained, “and she was crying and screaming and said that they shot him. And then she pointed the phone towards the driver’s seat and my son was laying there, unresponsive. That was the last time that I seen my son.”

   Wright’s death comes nearly 11 months after the death of George Floyd, and during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes and is believed to have killed him due to asphyxiation.

    Potter resigned following the incident and was arrested and charged with second-degree involuntary manslaughter two days later. The trial is scheduled to begin in May.