BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — A former police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota has reportedly posted bail and been released from jail after being arrested for second-degree manslaughter.
Meanwhile, Wednesday night demonstrators gathered for a fourth night outside a police station in Brooklyn Center. An aerial view of the crowd showed a few hundred people gathered in the street. Overall, the demonstrations Wednesday were peaceful until just after 10 p.m. ET, when officers fired flash bangs and started reminding the crowd about the upcoming curfew.
Nightly demonstrations have been mostly peaceful until the later hours, when there have been reports of vandalism and looting of nearby businesses.
Flash bangs, rubber bullets and pepper spray have been used by officers on demonstrators the last few nights. Demonstrators have thrown bottles, fireworks and other items at officers.
Dozens of people have been arrested this week as police clash with demonstrators out after curfew.
Earlier in the day Wednesday, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput announced the charge against Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter in a press release.
Potter, 48, resigned from the department on Tuesday, two days after she fired the fatal shot that killed Wright during a traffic stop on Sunday.
In a press conference on Monday, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said he believed that Potter meant to fire her Taser during a struggle but accidentally grabbed her gun. Gannon also resigned from the force on Tuesday.
“We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her Taser,” wrote Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief and director of the Major Crime Unit. “Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable.”
The attorney’s office says Potter was taken into custody by agents of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and booked into jail where she will await her first court appearance.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Wright family attorney Ben Crump and Rev. Al Sharpton praised Orput's quick action to charge Potter — but Sharpton added that he felt a second-degree manslaughter charge was the "least" charge that Potter should face.
"[The Wright family] is glad she got charged. But they do hope and pray for a day that they get equal justice, just like our white brothers and sisters," Crump said.
Crump also called Wright's killing "unconscionable," that Wright's death came less than a year after the death of George Floyd — whose death in police custody in May 2020 sparked protests across the nation.
"We're going to have the funeral at the same spot where we had the funeral for George Floyd a year ago," Crump said.
