The mother of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man fatally shot by police last year, has condemned the behavior of an officer she said threatened to arrest her for filming a traffic stop.
Katie Wright said she felt compelled to pull over on Wednesday when she spotted a “high police presence” for a vehicle stopped on Highway 252. She pulled out her phone and started recording from across the median, fully aware of the dangers that can occur in such situations.
At a news conference outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Thursday, Wright said her motivations were rooted in nothing more than concern for the person in the vehicle. She estimated they were between 20 or 25 years old, according to the Star Tribune.
“All I was doing was my civic duty to pull over and make sure that those babies got home safe to their families because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to any other families,” she told reporters.
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Brooklyn Center police in a news release said officers were assisting another law enforcement agency Wednesday night with a “high-risk” stop related to a homicide investigation. They released body cam footage of Wright’s interaction with officers the following day, calling it “an effort to promote public safety and dispel widespread rumor or unrest.”
In the video, an officer can be seen helping to arrest a suspect and then placing them into a police vehicle before spotting Wright recording nearby.
“She’s getting a ticket,” he says.
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The other officer protests, but it doesn’t stop his comrade from crossing the highway and approaching Wright, seated in the front seat of her car with the door open at the time.
“You’re going to give me your driver’s license or I’m going to take you to jail for obstruction,” the officer tells her before grabbing her wrist and taking her cellphone.
“Do you know who I am?” she fires back. “You guys killed my son and I’m gonna videotape it. And if you take me to jail, I’m going to sue you.”
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Her son, Daunte, was shot and killed by Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter in April 2021. A Minnesota jury found 49-year-old Potter guilty in December of first- and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the deadly incident, which unfolded during a traffic stop.
Officers stopped the 20-year-old in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center for expired plates, only to quickly realize he also had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant out for his arrest. They attempted to take him into custody, but he escaped their grasp and managed to get back into the driver’s seat of his vehicle.
Footage from Potter’s bodycam then shows the officer yelling “Taser, Taser” before she shoots Daunte with her firearm. He was able to drive only a short distance before crashing nearby.
Daunte was pronounced dead on the scene, while his girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat at the time, was injured.
