40 People Arrested In Yet Another Night Of Violent Protesting In Minnesota
Michael Cantrell
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More protests broke out late Monday evening around the city of Minneapolis despite local law enforcement putting a curfew into effect after a young black man was shot and killed over the weekend, reigniting tensions in an area already on edge due to the George Floyd murder trial.
Dozens of protesters showed up outside of a Brooklyn Center police station carrying signs and chanting slogans near where the killing occurred.
Folks who came out to the demonstration taunted officers through a newly built wire fence placed around the station with signs that said stuff like “Jail all racist killer cops,” “Am I next?” and “No justice, no peace.”
Police fired tear gas at the protesters several times and ordered them to disperse. About 40 people were arrested, several officers suffered minor injuries and there was sporadic looting elsewhere in the area, law enforcement officials said.
This was the second consecutive night of protests after 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot dead by a policewoman who appeared to confuse her handgun with her taser.
In police body camera video released earlier Monday, an officer shouts “Taser! Taser! Taser!” but then instead fires a gun at the victim.
“The officer drew their handgun instead of their taser,” said Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon.
Gannon went on to say that he believes the officer, who is currently out on leave pending an investigation, “had the intention to deploy their taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet.”
“This was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright,” Gannon stated. “There is nothing I can say to lessen the pain of Mr. Wright’s family.”
If you look at the body cam footage, you can see several police officers pulling Wright out of his vehicle after a traffic stop revealed he had a warrant out for his arrest.
As officers were cuffing him, Wright gets into a bit of a scuffle and then attempts to get back in his car and take off. A female officer can be heard shouting in the back, “I’ll tase you,” and then “Taser! Taser! Taser!” which is standard procedure before an officer fires a stun gun.
“Holy s***, I shot him,” the officer says as Wright, at this point fataally wounded, drives off. He ended up crashing his car a few blocks away from the scene.
What’s not been made clear at this point is how the officer mistook her handgun for her taser. Gannon went on to reveal that they are trained to place their handgun on the dominant side of the body while the taser is placed on the weaker side.
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