BODYCAM: Brooklyn Center Officer Mistakes Gun for Taser, Fatally Shoots Man
New police body camera video just released from Brooklyn Center shows the officer apparently mistakenly reaching for her gun instead of her taser, shooting 20-year-old Daunte Wright once during a traffic stop Sunday, April 11, 2021.
A still image taken from Brooklyn Center police bodycam video shows an officer’s weapon before she shot a man during a traffic stop Sunday, April 11, 2021.
Authorities released the video Monday as protests and rioting broke out in the Twin Cities suburb overnight and spilled over into Minneapolis. The fatal police shooting comes as former officer Derek Chauvin stands trial not far away in downtown Minneapolis, accused of killing George Floyd last May.
"This was an accidental discharge," Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said at a news conference Monday. He said it appeared the officer, who he described as “very senior,” mistook her service weapon for her taser as she was attempting to apprehend Wright.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s press release report on the cause of death for Daunte Wright.
Wright had been pulled over on a traffic stop and officers learned he had an active warrant for failure to appear on fleeing and firearm possession charges. He was being cuffed when Wright apparently tried to enter the vehicle again. The officer fired the mistaken shot and Wright drove off, striking a car a few blocks away, where he died.
In the bodycam video, the officer can be heard warning other officers of an impending taser deployment, when she was holding her service weapon in her right hand. She pulls the trigger and exclaims, “Sh*t, I just shot him!” before the video ends.
Read our previous coverage on Wright’s shooting.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliot says he supports firing the officer, who is on administrative leave as the shooting is investigated.
Elliot announced that the City Council had voted Monday afternoon to give control of the city’s police department over to the office of the mayor, news that was quickly followed with word that City Manager Curt Boganey had been fired. “Effective immediately,” Elliot wrote in a tweet, Boganey was being relieved of his duties and the deputy city manager would be taking over.
Also new on Monday was the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s report on Wright’s cause of death. The examination found that Wright died of a single gunshot wound to the chest at 2:18 p.m. near 63rd Ave. N. & Kathrene Dr.
UPDATE: The Minnesota BCA has identified the officer who has been placed on leave for the shooting as officer Kim Potter, 48. She has been with the department for nearly 26 years and is president of the Brooklyn Center Police Officers’ Association. Because of the active investigation, more personnel data is not yet available.
