On Sunday, April 11th, Daunte Wright was pulled over in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. He was pulled over because the officer noticed expired tags, and they discovered he had a pre-existing arrest warrant. The arrest warrant details have not been released, so we do not know what they were for. The bodycam footage of the officer on the scene was released. The footage showed that as one officer tried to handcuff Wright, he resisted in some way. This led the other officer to yell taser, but then shot Mr. Wright. It has been announced by the police that it was an “accidental discharge” of the gun, and the officer was reaching for the taser. Information about the officer has not been released, but they were described as a “very senior officer.”
Crowds gathered around the area and eventually surrounded the Brooklyn Center Police Department. After hours of protesting, police tear-gassed the crowd and used flash-bang grenades to remove them from the area. Damage and looting of a shopping center nearby were also reported. Melvin Carter, the mayor of St. Paul, said "We have to ask ourselves why and how does this keep happening over and over and over again in America, in the world, in Minnesota?” Sunday’s incident happened just miles away from where George Floyd was murdered. Legislators and citizens are advocating for legislative change in police reform so that this comes to an end.
The Minnesota National Guard and local police have been stationed throughout nearby cities to prepare for civil unrest. They are on high alert because the Chauvin trial is still ongoing, so more unrest is now expected. Advocates, legislators, citizens, and victim's family members feel disappointed and angry because as the trial for George Floyd’s murder takes place, yet another tragic and fatal incident occurs because of the police.
OPINION
If the officer was described as “very senior,” their training and experience should have been enough to be able to differentiate between a gun and a taser. Not only should they have been able to know what weapon they grab, but they should also be well aware of the weapon in hand. Even if it was a pure accident, there is still no excuse. That would prove the need for extensive police training written in legislative police reform. Clearly, if an officer cannot differentiate between their weapons, they should not have the ability to use them or be in that position. It is obvious and justifiable as to why crowds gathered to protest what had happened. For those who criticize the violence of the BLM movement, I attached a video from the Washington Post that briefly discusses how similar the Civil Rights movement was in “violent” tactics and how they were criticized in the 50s and 60s just as the BLM movement is today. I am not supporting violence, yet one needs to understand that sometimes, violence is a last resort that can lead to change after centuries of injustice. Resistance, a warrant, skin color, or anything of that matter is not a death sentence. Enough is enough.
Hi Romy. I completely agree with you and I think this whole situation is absolutely disgusting. The fact that this woman has been a police officer for longer than HE'S BEEN ALIVE and she still can't tell the difference between a gun and a taser is horrifying. Also, I'm pretty sure there's a safety button on both so she had to stare him in the face with a gun, take off the safety, and shoot him. It is not an officer's job to decide if they require the death penalty or not and if you have so much anxiety that you think every time a black person goes back into their car is a threat and they are trying to kill you, you should not be an officer. I'm tired of the superiority complex and "god" role police officers have told themselves they are allowed to have. I am happy though that she is being charged, but these situations need to end.
ReplyDeleteHey Romy,
ReplyDeleteI agree Daunte Wright was shot unjustifiably by the female officer and there should be questions raised about police training. She will most likely face jail time for manslaughter. I saw you said the arrest warrant details have not been released yet, but I linked an article below that claims his warrant was related to an aggravated armed robbery attempt and for choking the women he robbed. Regardless, he still should not have been shot and this was bad policing. Additionally, do you think Daunte was shot because of his skin color or do you think it was a combination of bad police action/training and extra caution/force for a dangerous criminal resisting arrest?
Yahoo Article: https://news.yahoo.com/daunte-wright-accused-choking-robbing-004851464.html
Hi Ethan, I am only seeing this now because I didn't check my comments. Here is a quote from Associated Press: "Police have described the shooting of Wright as “an accidental discharge” that happened as officers were trying to arrest Wright on an outstanding warrant after stopping his car for having expired registration tags."
Delete(https://apnews.com/article/daunte-wright-shooting-minnesota-f70fb7fc4c205740507b7ec53d7315f0)
As you can see, he was being pulled over for expired tags despite the well known delay for tag registration/distribution at the DMV due to COVID. His mom also said that he was pulled over because he had air fresheners in his car. These both seem like unnecessary reasons to be pulled over- especially during a pandemic.
To answer your question if his skin color had anything to do with his death, I do think so, but we can't really assume that for sure. I do think that there are flaws in the actions of the police officer, obviously, and the training in general. Officers should be able to tell the difference between a gun and a taser. Officers should be trained to deal with people(especially unarmed people like Daunte Wright, George Floyd, and many others) without using lethal force or resorting to murder. Feeling "threatened" for no outright reason as an officer, is no excuse to murder someone. Watching the body cam footage, you see Daunte Wright duck back into his car; that doesn't seem like a reason to shoot, let alone shoot to kill. Even if it wasn't "intentional," it just doesn't make sense. From my understanding, there are safety measures on both weapons that require you to do something before you can actually use it. A trained officer should never make that mistake anyway.
As Trevor Noah said, it is not just a few bad apples, it is a rotten tree. I am trying to express that the whole police system in America is flawed- as I hope you learned after watching and discussing the documentary 13th. I'm not saying that all cops are bad, but they are all products of a flawed system.