On April 11, 20 year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed during a traffic stop In Minneapolis, ten miles away from Derek Chauvin’s trial. This shooting has added to the tense political divide after the death of George Floyd that has led to protests across the country.
Daunte Wright was pulled over by officer Kim Porter due to expired registration tags on his vehicle. During this traffic stop the police discovered a warrant for his arrest after Mr. Wright did not attend a court hearing for misdemeanor charges. As seen on disturbing body camera footage, the man was detained on the door of the car then shifted into the passenger seat which prompted Officer Porter to draw her firearm. The video shows the officer holding a police standard handgun while shouting “Taser, Taser, Taser!”, “It is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” stated Brooklyn Center Police Chief, Tim Gannon, during a press conference. The victim died of a gunshot wound to the chest after driving several blocks in his vehicle.
Protests have erupted in the Minneapolis metropolitan area leading to the surrounding counties enacting curfews as well as issuing a state of emergency. Protestors reportedly have been demonstrating outside of the Brooklyn Center Police department ever since the shooting and have been met with a militarized police force alongside the National Guard.The demonstrators were met with tear gas and flash bangs as crowd deterrents during their peaceful vigil. Later into the night the officers would advance into the crowd using crowd dispersing tactics that led to 40 people being arrested on the second day of protests, local authorities report.