The black man who was killed during a traffic stop in Minnesota was fatally shot by a cop who mistook her gun for a Taser, police said Monday, as they released bodycam footage of the incident, showing the officer screaming, “Taser! Taser!”
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said Daunte Wright died as a result of “an accidental discharge” by the officer, who has been placed on administrative leave.
Police bodycam footage shows the officer yelling “Taser! Taser!” as others struggled with Wright in his car.
The video shows Wright stepping out of his car, then leaping back behind the wheel and driving off.
“Holy s–t,” the officer is heard saying on the video. “I just shot him!”
The officer was not immediately identified but Gannon described her as a “very senior” member of the force — whose job may now be on the line.
“Let me be very clear,” Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said Monday. “My position is that we cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people in our profession.”
“So, I do fully support releasing the officer of her duties,” Elliott said.
But asked whether she should be terminated, the chief would only say that she has a right to “due process.”
“I think we can look at the video and ascertain whether or not she will return,” he told reporters.
Gannon said he was unaware whether a weapon was found in Wright’s car and said officers initially pulled him over for an expired registration.
“There’s no gun that I was made aware of,” Gannon said. “It appeared to me in the video that the individual was trying to get back into his car to leave.”
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is handling the investigation into Wright’s death.
The police briefing came as city business owners were still cleaning up after a new round of looting and clashes between protesters and police over Wright’s shooting in the fractured Minnesota community.
Images from the scene Monday showed demonstrators back on the streets, as police in riot gear and National Guard troops were deployed in anticipation of more unrest.
Gannon also became combative with reporters and community activists during Monday’s press conference, abruptly leaving, then returning to defend police actions during protests sparked by Wright’s shooting death.
He said police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators after cops were pelted with bricks and frozen cans.
“Once we got pelted, we responded in kind,” he said.
Asked if cops would react differently, he answered: “Absolutely not.”
Wright, 20, was shot and killed around 2 p.m. Sunday after a police traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, a city on Minneapolis’ northwest border, according to authorities.
The fatal shooting took place just blocks from the site of George Floyd’s police-custody death in Minneapolis on May 25.
Police said hundreds of protesters, many holding Black Lives Matter signs, looted stores, and even fired shots at a police station in the first major unrest since Floyd’s death.
“Our hearts are aching right now,” Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said. “And we recognize that this couldn’t have happened at a worse time. We recognize that this is happening at a time when our community, when all of America, indeed, all of the world, is watching our community. We are collectively devastated.”
The new protests came as the murder trial of ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin in Floyd’s death entered its third week of testimony at Hennepin County District Court.
Wright was with his girlfriend when he was pulled over on Orchard Avenue on Sunday, police said.
Cops said he had an outstanding arrest warrant — with Gannon saying Monday that it was for a “gross misdemeanor.”
A reporter for KARE 11 tweeted that the warrant was for carrying a pistol without a permit and fleeing police. It was issued in April when he failed to appear in court.
According to police, Wright jumped back in his car when officers tried to arrest him and tried to flee, prompting cops to open fire. He drove several blocks before crashing.
His mother rushed to the scene and described a call she received from her son before he was shot and killed.
“Mom, I’m getting pulled over,” she said he told her. “They’re asking about insurance.”
The woman said she heard cops yelling, and told him to put the phone down and not to run. She said he was pulled over for having an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror, according to reports.
The Wright family has retained civil rights lawyer Ben Crump — who also represents the Floyd family.
The attorney blasted the fatal shooting as “entirely preventable and inhumane.”
“What will it take for law enforcement to stop killing people of color?” Crump said in a statement. “The growing number of Black men and women who have been killed or harmed by police is far too hefty a price for the equality we are seeking. We join Daunte’s family in demanding justice for him, and holding those responsible for his death accountable.”
