13 April 2021
A demonstrator heckles police in Brooklyn Center, Minn., last night. Photo: John Minchillo/AP
A second night of protests over the police shooting of Daunte Wright unfolded in Brooklyn Center Tuesday, as a large crowd defied a curfew and pleas from city leaders to go home.
Driving the news: “We are goingto get to the bottom of this. We are going to make sure that there’s justice, that this officer is held accountable," Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott told demonstrators in an effort to calm tensions after dark.
- Law enforcement again deployed tear gas, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets amid clashes with the crowds gathered outside the police station.
- Several dozen protesters were arrested, MPR News reports, as limited looting was reported in Brooklyn Center and beyond.
- By 11pm, demonstrators had largely dispersed and the mayor tweeted that "our city is calm."
The backdrop: The overnight curfew was instituted from 7pm to 6am across the metro in hopes of quelling unrest and violence following the fatal shooting of Wright, 20, who was killed during a traffic stop just before 2pm Sunday. The number of National Guard troops on the ground doubled to about 1,000, officials said.
As the evening protests ramped up, ramifications of the shooting continued to play out across city government.
- The City Council voted to fire Brooklyn Center's city manager and give more power to the mayor, The Star Tribune reports.
- The mayor is expected to announce whether he will fire the police chief as soon as today.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, meanwhile, identified the officer who shot Wright as Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran of the force.
- The Hennepin County Attorney's office referred the case to Washington County for consideration of charges. A decision is expected in the coming days.
Earlier in the night, hundreds gathered for a peaceful vigil in Wright's honor.
- "I just need everyone to know that he was my life," Wright's mother Katie Wright said. "He was my son. And I can never get that back. Because of a mistake? Because of an accident?""
- The family retained Benjamin Crump, the attorney who negotiated a record misconduct settlement on behalf of George Floyd's relatives.
The big picture: Sunday's fatal shooting has reverberated not just in the metro, but across the nation, bringing even more attention to the Twin Cities as the trial of Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd nears an end.
- President Biden called for a "full-blown investigation," as he echoed local and state officials' statements that while peaceful protests are justified, violence and destruction won't be tolerated.
- "The world is watching the Chauvin trial. The world will watch this process, and the world will ask if there's justice," St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter told reporters.
Worthy of your time: Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon's claim that Potter likely fired her gun inadvertently while meaning to reach for a taser has renewed scrutiny of training and use of the less-lethal tool.
- The Associated Press explored cases of officers drawing a gun instead of a taser in this 2015 piece and in 2016 and again today.
Go deeper: See more photos of the protests
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.