Police resignations fail to ease Minneapolis unrest over Daunte Wright’s murder

People protesting and holding Black Lives Matter placards.

The resignations of a police chief and an officer who shot dead a black man, Daunte Wright, in Minneapolis have failed to end unrest over Sunday's killing. Picture: Bruce Emmerling from Pixabay

Published Apr 14, 2021

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PRETORIA - The resignations of a police chief and an officer who shot dead a black man, Daunte Wright, in Minneapolis have failed to end unrest over Sunday's killing, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

According to the Chicago Tribune, chief Tim Gannon and officer Kim Potter quit the Brooklyn Centre Force on Tuesday, a move mayor Mike Elliott said he hoped would help heal the community and lead to reconciliation after two nights of protests and unrest that followed the killing Daunte Wright.

CNN cited Elliott as saying that Potter decided on her own to resign from the police department.

"We did not ask her to resign. That was a decision she made," he was quoted as saying.

The US broadcaster said people voiced concerns that Potter resigned and was not fired, but Elliott said he has "not accepted her resignation" and that his office is continuing to review the matter.

"We're doing our internal process to make sure that we are being accountable to the steps that we need to take," Elliott was quoted as saying.

Twenty-year-old Wright was shot on Sunday after he was pulled over for an expired tag on his car licence plate.

In a body camera footage released by police on Monday, Wright is seen fleeing from officers after they told him he was being arrested for an outstanding warrant.

Wright re-enters his car and Potter is heard shouting "Taser" several times before firing a shot.

On Monday during a news conference, Gannon said the officer "drew their handgun instead of their Taser", KSTP TV said in its report.

"It is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser but instead shot Mr Wright with a single bullet," USA Today quoted Gannon as saying.

Gannon said officers are trained to carry their firearms on the dominant side of their body and their Taser on the other side. He was quoted as saying that after seeing the video, he believed that "this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr Wright".

Wright’s deaths comes amid the trial of a white ex-police officer accused of murdering African-American George Floyd in May last year.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are expected to decide whether to charge Potter on Wednesday, the Associated Press news agency reported.

ANA