The mother of Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old who died in a police-involved shooting in Minnesota on Sunday, has said she “can’t accept” the explanation that the officer meant to use her Taser as opposed to her firearm.
During a Tuesday morning interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Katie Wright said that her son called her as he was being pulled over by police.
She explained that her son told her he was being pulled over for “air fresheners hanging in the rearview mirror” and that in the moment, she urged him to “take them down” and to let her speak with the officers if they asked to see his insurance. Then, she heard the officers insist he step out of the car.
“Daunte said, ‘For what? Am I in trouble?’ and the officer said, ‘We’re going to explain that when you step out of the car.’ So, and they asked him to put the phone down, and I heard the phone getting put down pretty hard, and I heard an officer ask for them to hang up the phone,” Wright said. “And then, I didn’t hear anything else.”
At that time, a background check showed a warrant out for Wright’s arrest. He was facing two misdemeanor charges after having carried a pistol without a permit and running from officers last June, according to the New York Times.
As officers tried to apprehend him, Wright was able to slip back into the driver’s door and sped off, but not before officer Kimberly Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, fired off one round, which hit him and sent the car careening down the street before it hit a parked vehicle.
“I tried to call back three, four times, and then, the girl that was with him answered the phone, and she said that they shot him and he was laying in the driver’s seat unresponsive. That’s the last time I seen my son. I haven’t seen him since,” Wright said. “I would like to see justice served and her held accountable for everything she’s taken from us.”
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said the body camera footage leads him to believe this was an “accidental shooting,” explaining the officer meant to fire her Taser and not her firearm.
The body camera footage shows the struggle, in which Porter can be heard shouting, “I’ll tase you! I’ll tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” And moments later: “Holy s—. I shot him.”
Reacting to the chief’s evaluation, the father, Aubrey Wright, said, “I cannot accept that. I lost my son. He’s never coming back. I can’t accept that [was] a mistake. That doesn’t even sound right. You know, this officer has been on the force for 26 years. I can’t accept that.”
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Aubrey Wright’s sister and Daunte Wright’s aunt, Naisha Wright, said that she and her mother were in the middle of driving cross-country to go to Brooklyn Center, during a Monday night interview on CNN.
Naisha Wright said of her brother, “I’ve never heard or seen my brother cry. Do you know how that feels for me to hear my brother call out for his son? Never. Nobody should have to feel this pain. Nobody. My brother is so hurt. My brother’s a good man. He’s been there for his kids.”
The shooting, which led to protests that included violence, was only miles away from where George Floyd died in custody last May. The main now-former officer involved, Derek Chauvin, is currently on trial facing charges of third-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter.
