Daunte Wright Officer Trial
This still image taken from from police body cam video shows Daunte Wright during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
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From the Associated Press . . .

A suburban Minneapolis city has agreed to pay $3.2 million to the family of Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot by a police officer who said she confused her gun for her Taser.

The tentative settlement also includes changes in police policies and training involving traffic stops like the one that resulted in Wright’s death, according to a statement Tuesday night from attorneys representing Wright’s family.

Wright was shot once in the chest by Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter, who is white, after the 20-year-old was stopped for expired registration tags in April 2021. The former officer was subsequently convicted of first- and second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Potter is heard on video yelling “Taser” several times just before she fires her pistol.

Wright’s family members “hope and believe the measures of change to policing, policies and training will create important improvements to the community in Daunte’s name,” said co-counsel Antonio M. Romanucci. “Nothing can bring him back, but the family hopes his legacy is a positive one and prevents any other family from enduring the type of grief they will live with for the rest of their lives.”

The Associated Press left a message Wednesday seeking comment from the mayor’s office.

 

The shooting happened at a time of high tension in the area, with former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin standing trial just miles away for the killing of George Floyd. The fallout from Wright’s death led the Brooklyn Center City Council to pass a series of reforms, including the use of social workers and other trained professionals to respond to medical, mental health and social-needs calls that don’t require police.

The changes also prohibit police from making arrests for low-level offenses and require the city to use unarmed civilians to handle minor traffic violations.

The settlement is one of the largest involving police conduct Minnesota. Last year, the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to Floyd’s family.

Minneapolis previously paid $20 million to the family of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, after she called 911 to report a suspected assault behind her home in July 2017 and was fatally shot by Mohamed Noor, one of the officers who responded to her call.

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26 COMMENTS

  1. Totally wrong! This thug should have just set his lazy fat butt on the ground and gotten handcuffed and taken to prison like a good felon does! He resisted and he got what he deserved! Give this honorable police officer a medal for her valor and protecting all of us from the thug, gang banging felons. Good Shoot! Glad he was taken out!!! May he enjoy his future in HELL where he deserves to be. Why would we pay taxpayer money to violent thugs who treat our fine police with disrespect and refuse lawful commands to stand down and be arrested for their felonies?

    • Sjhoot somebody for an expired REGISTRATION/ You are completely and certifiably INSANE and should never with that attitude by able to own any type of firearm henceforth.
      Whilst this Officer WAS neglectful of her duty she should never have been allowed out on the street if she could not tell her TASER from her SIDEARM, even inextremist . In the UK she would probaly served time as well but this death would have been called MANSLAUGHTER. Mind you if she had not undergone some of THE most stringent firearms training in the Police World she would only have had a TASER in the first place and even carrying one of those has a toughy training regime behindit!

  2. How much do you want to bet Amir Locke’s family doesn’t get $3 million, because Locke wasn’t a criminal actively resisting police when he was killed?

  3. I wonder what “Daunte” earned thru honest (lawful) employment in his misbegotten useless life?

    Darwin’s a SOB isn’t he “Daunte”. (No award though as the POS had already reproduced).

  5. If Brooklyn Center can just hold out on making the payment for a few more months, it will save a lot since the money will be worth a much less. Bidenflation FTW.

    • A couple more months and the envelope the check comes in will have more real value than the check represents.

  6. If an officer can not take the stress of the job then they should not be a cop. REALLY, can’t tell the difference between a tazer and a gun?? It should have not escalated to that point over a expired tag.

        • The fact that you’re an asshole doesn’t change what happened.

          Defense attorneys also argue that Wright was responsible for his own death because he tried to drive off from a traffic stop and could have dragged an officer to his death if Potter hadn’t intervened.

          The argument is that Wright endangered officers by trying to escape arrest after Potter and another officer pulled him over for an expired tag and learned of an arrest warrant for Wright over a weapons charge. …

          And that may well be true. After all, the video of the incident makes it clear that Wright was trying to get away by getting back in his car, a potentially lethal weapon.

          Bearing Arms, 11-29-2021

    • the whole encounter and death is 100% DUMB Daunte’s fault….if he had not tried to run he would be alive.

      • Yes, I would have never done that in fear of being shot, but it still leaves the disturbing fact she did not know she had her gun instead of the tazer.

  7. I watched this video again just to refresh my memory. In my opinion, based only on the video, this was not a justifiable homicide. First, let’s address the Chief’s discription of the shooting as accidental. It was not. From what I saw, Officer Potter intentionally pulled the trigger and the weapon functioned as designed. it appears Officer Potter became confused in the moment and drew her service pistol when she thought she had her Taser. This is reinforced when she yells, “Taser, Taser, Taser”! That is straight out of the Taser training class. Second. Did the suspect have a criminal history? Did the suspect have felony a warrant for his arrest? If so was it a violent felony? Was the suspect familiar to the officers and someone they encounter frequently? (We all had them, everywhere.) Was there a weapon in the suspect’s vehicle? Last, and most important. If the answer to all, or any of the previous questions are “Yes”. Did the officers on the scene know it?

      • bobo, if I shot everyone that only tried to run, and they will, even when they have no reason to, l’d so many notches in my grips they would have looked like factory checkering. I didn’t like it when they ran, but you can’t kill everybody that pisses you off and stay out of prison.

    • Didn’t read your whole comment, but it would have been justified if she hadn’t had the taser in the first place. No good deed goes unpunished…

      His family probably would have still gotten the lawsuit lottery money though.

  8. I am not saying that the perp was right, if he did wrong then he should be held accountable. I was not there to know what exactly happened, but it looks like he was shot before he drove away, that still leaves the fact she thought she was holding her tazer, that is the disturbing point. When you have a job that involves when peoples lives are at stake you have to make sure you know what you are doing, whether you are a cop, doctor, fireman, or what ever profession you are in that could effect a persons life.

  9. I still say the whole encounter and death is 100% DUMB Daunte’s fault….if he had not tried to run he would be alive.
    don’t fight the cops, fight the charges in court and LIVE

  10. How much of the 27 million do you think the family of criminal Floyd has left at this point?

  11. The city of Brooklyn ain’t paying sht. The tax payers of Brooklyn are.
    Watch property taxes go up.

  12. This just tells you to buy all your gang banger kin a firearm and make sure they are scared of the po po, so they run when they are high. Maybe they will get shot and you could get a payday for the no account youts.

  14. I rewatched this video to help me rememberwords from letters better. In my view, this was not a legal killing based solely on the video. Let’s start by talking about the Chief’s claim that the shooting was unintentional.

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