Rebecca Ibarra: I am Rebecca Ibarra in for Tanzina Vega and this is The Takeaway. Over the weekend, Kim Potter a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota a suburb of Minneapolis fatally shot Duante Wright, a 20-year-old Black man during a traffic stop. This all unfolded minutes from where George Floyd was killed last year and amid the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer facing charges in Floyd's death. Demonstrators gathered almost instantly to mourn the death of Duante Wright and to demand police accountability.
During the press conference on Monday, Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon told the media that officer Potter who's been on the force 26 years intended to draw her taser but instead drew her service weapon.
Tim Gannon: This appears to me from what I viewed and the officer's reaction and distress immediately after that this was an accidental discharge.
Rebecca: For more on this recent killing and what's happening on the ground, we're joined by Nina Moini, a reporter at Minnesota Public Radio News. Nina, thanks for joining us.
Nina Moini: Thanks for having me on, Rebecca.
Rebecca: Nina, let's start with what we know so far. Why was Duante Wright pulled over in the first place?
Nina: According to the Brooklyn center police department they say that they pulled him over, this was in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, for expired tabs. In Minnesota, we have little stickers that really clearly indicate by year and color if your tabs are expired or not. The family of Duante Wright, his mother Katie Wright says that he was pulled over for having an air freshener displayed in his vehicle from his rear-view mirror which that is a law in this state that you're not supposed to have something hanging from there that could obscure the sight or anything like that. Police say that that's something that they discovered after they had pulled him over and when they went up to the car.
Rebecca: What do we know about what happened during the stop?
Nina: We know what the police have shown us via the body camera footage. We weren't able to see all of it. It was a clip and it shows officers approaching the vehicle. It shows officer who's now been identified as Kim Potter eventually drawing her gun, we now know, instead of her taser as Duante Wright was reentering his vehicle and sitting down in a seated position in the driver's seat. You hear her say, "taser" multiple times and then you hear the gun and then you hear her say an expletive and say, "I just shot him."
Rebecca: As we heard in the intro clip, the police chief said he believes this was an accidental discharge because Kim Potter, the officer, meant to fire her taser. How has the community responded to that?
Nina: They say it's just absolutely unacceptable that a mistake like that is something that is born out of community members, say, somebody already having a prejudice and bias. One community member here who has been in the community for years and who organizes a lot said yesterday that he feels that Duante Wright was dead before he was even pulled over.
Almost immediately after the news broke, many people in the community were demanding that this officer be immediately fired. We understand that she has not been fired that she's on administrative leave as a standard procedure. Chief Gannon stood by that and said that everybody deserves a due process, but this was very upsetting to the Wright family and many people in the community.
Rebecca: Nina this happened so close to where Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd and emotions are already heightened. What are you seeing there on the ground?
Nina: The last year has been extremely traumatic for the people of the twin cities and the people of this state. I think people who don't live here maybe don't realize what a force and what a presence George Floyd still is in the community. We have rubble in the streets of Minneapolis still from businesses that were damaged during some unrest that haven't been rebuilt yet. There are images of George Floyd and murals of him and signs in people's yards and in people's windows.
This trauma never really ended and then the trial began and that conjured up a lot of trauma for a lot of people particularly our Black residents here in the twin cities area. To have something like this happen was almost unbelievable and very shocking and then stunning to have it turn out that police say that it was just an accident that just happened. The timing of it is just remarkable. It has led to, as we've all seen now, more unrest, more protests.
It's something that top law enforcement officials in the state had already been prepared for a heightened police presence because of the Chauvin trial. The national guard was already on standby. They didn't want to see more destruction happen and made it clear to everybody that they're fine with peaceful protest but that they're going to put a stop to any damage or looting and rioting. We've already seen within the past couple of days that some looting and rioting has taken place and a few dozen businesses at least that we know of have been damaged significantly.
Rebecca: Has this latest police-involved killing affected the Chauvin trial at all?
Nina: We know that attorney Eric Nelson, Chauvin's attorney, did ask that the jury be sequestered almost immediately. We know that judge Peter Cahill denied that request and said that they're going to be sequestered anyway during jury deliberations. This was also something that really struck a nerve and upset a lot of people in the community. They felt like it was another effort by the defense, they say, to try to throw a wrench in the trial or another desperate attempt they say to try to make this something it wasn't when they say that it was very clear in the videos, what happened to George Floyd.
Rebecca: Nina Moini is a reporter for MPR news and cohost of In Front Of Our Eyes a podcast about the Chauvin trial and the life of George Floyd. Nina, thank you for joining us.
Nina: Thank you.
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