MN - Daunte Wright, 20, fatally shot by police during traffic stop, Brooklyn Center, 11 April 2021

[tlcya]

I know my limitations. I am not built, physically or mentally, for a job in law enforcement. I have many friends and family in LE. But that is not a career I would ever have gone into. I know myself, I know I would not be able to operate in a field where the circumstances could take my life or cause me to take another's.

I think her charges are appropriate and I hope Daunte's family gets justice. I am troubled by the continued protesting around this particular shooting as charges were filed nearly immediately after the investigation was done. I don't think there is anything to be done now but await the legal system to operate as it's supposed to in regards to a trial. I don't see what protests do in a case such as this where the wheels of justice are already turning and things appear to be transparent (JMO) thus far.

 

[kittythehare]

Can you honestly say that in a highly stressful situation there is zero risk of mistaking left and right even if that maybe never happened before? I look at myself and would never be comfortable with saying that i know that this will never happen to m

As a left/right co-ordination error has not been presented as a defence, I would not jump to assume that this is the reason for her poor judgement.

 

[Apollo]

right left confusion just doesn't explain that day's events to me. As a 25 year veteran, if right/left confusion was an issue for her I don't see why it took 25 years to show up.

I think she was discombobulated and pulled the wrong weapon but I don't think it's because she was confused about which side was left or right. I don't know that I will ever understand how such a mistake occurs.

I will never understand why she got involved in attempting to take control of Duante when the other officer could have handled it (IMO) himself. I will never understand why that other officer didn't take Duante further back towards the rear of the vehicle prior to attempting to cuff and take him into custody. By removing him towards the back of the vehicle he would have been more geographically removed from the temptation to try to leap back into the vehicle as he did.

Just such cluster in so many ways.

The right/left confusion theory doesn't explain the events to me either.

First and foremost, I would think the simple feel of the weapon would/should have triggered something in her brain that said 'this is my gun'. The police officers I know go to the shooting range on a regular basis to practice. I'm sure they have handled their guns much more frequently than their tasers. I would think that after 26 yrs of being a police officer, she handled her gun many many times more than her taser. I know the weight is greatly different and I would think the feel of it in one's hand would be different too.

As far as the yellow coloring on the taser, I can understand how she didn't notice that the weapon she drew and used didn't have any yellow coloring because she was intently focused on her target. She may not even have looked at the weapon in her hand, even though it was right in front of her, because she was directing all of her attention to what she was going to shoot.

Like someone said up thread, which I thought was an excellent point (sorry I don't remember who), if you're going to write something and pick up a pencil instead of a pen, you immediately know you've picked up the wrong thing.

It would be interesting to know a ball park estimate of how many times in her career she has drawn her taser vs her gun.

 

[Apollo]

The right/left confusion issue would make more sense to me if the weapons felt the same, weighed the same, and looked the same. Then it would be a matter of grabbing the weapon from the right instead of the left. But that's not the case.

 

[kittythehare]

The right/left confusion issue would make more sense to me if the weapons felt the same, weighed the same, and looked the same. Then it would be a matter of grabbing the weapon from the right instead of the left. But that's not the case.

As well as that she used the word 'Taser' 4 times that we know of.
Awaiting her service record.

 

[mickey2942]

right left confusion just doesn't explain that day's events to me. As a 25 year veteran, if right/left confusion was an issue for her I don't see why it took 25 years to show up.

I think she was discombobulated and pulled the wrong weapon but I don't think it's because she was confused about which side was left or right. I don't know that I will ever understand how such a mistake occurs.

I will never understand why she got involved in attempting to take control of Duante when the other officer could have handled it (IMO) himself. I will never understand why that other officer didn't take Duante further back towards the rear of the vehicle prior to attempting to cuff and take him into custody. By removing him towards the back of the vehicle he would have been more geographically removed from the temptation to try to leap back into the vehicle as he did.

Just such cluster in so many ways.

I will agree with you. I am not a fan of calling LEO for many reasons. They have a place. But I have seen some very disturbing things happen, that seemed contrary to any training.

 

[kittythehare]

I will agree with you. I am not a fan of calling LEO for many reasons. They have a place. But I have seen some very disturbing things happen, that seemed contrary to any training.

Especially taser guidelines.. and all that @tlcy said.
I wonder if additional charges will be levied later?

 

[NoSI]

As a left/right co-ordination error has not been presented as a defence, I would not jump to assume that this is the reason for her poor judgement.

Not jumping to conclusions. Just adding this for consideration. Isn't this what this thread is about?

 

[Razz]

You know after thinking about it, I wonder if DW freaked out because he felt a hand go down his backside after the one officer had him almost cuffed. Had he not been expecting that, that may have pushed him over the edge.

 

[kittythehare]

You know after thinking about it, I wonder if DW freaked out because he felt a hand go down his backside after the one officer had him almost cuffed. Had he not been expecting that, that may have pushed him over the edge.

I'm curious about the card she took?
Does anybody have any idea what that was?
Or why she took it the way she did?

 

[tlcya]

I'm curious about the card she took?
Does anybody have any idea what that was?
Or why she took it the way she did?

I have been puzzling on that one as well, that little white slip of paper or card. But early reports stated Daunte called his mom to ask where the insurance info was during the stop. So I was curious if it was the insurance card or something like the vehicle registration folded up.

 

[drama_farmer]

The details and situation are quite different, but this case reminds of the Botham Shem Jean killing, where Amber Guyger (off duty law enforcement, but armed and in uniform) was unable to notice what should have been obvious physical signs that she was entering an apartment that was not her own. imo

TX - Botham Shem Jean, 26, killed when police officer entered wrong apartment, Dallas, Sept 2018

 

[kittythehare]

The details and situation are quite different, but this case reminds of the Botham Shem Jean killing, where Amber Guyger (off duty law enforcement, but armed and in uniform) was unable to notice what should have been obvious physical signs that she was entering an apartment that was not her own. imo

TX - Botham Shem Jean, 26, killed when police officer entered wrong apartment, Dallas, Sept 2018

Me too.
I keep getting flashbacks to that case!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

On Tuesday, Potter resigned from her job in a brief letter addressed only to Brooklyn Center’s mayor (Mike Elliott), acting city manager (Reggie Edwards), and police chief (Tim Gannon, who resigned the same day). “I am tendering my resignation from the Brooklyn Center Police Department effectively immediately. I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers if I resign immediately,” the letter reads, in its entirety.

One imagines that Potter would consult her legal team on the note’s exact wording. There could be no gaffes allowed in a statement like this, no “accidental discharge” of language in the only comments we’ve so far heard from the cop who killed a Black man within ten miles of the Hennepin County Government Center, where the anguished, and perhaps consequential, State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin is ongoing. Yet the little that Potter wrote manages to prickle. The statement’s single allowance of emotion—“I have loved every minute”—betrays too much, poking like a burr picked up from some plant that is supposed to spread its seed inconspicuously. The phrase “dog whistle” is granted too much weight in situations like these; one need not be specially attuned to hear the underlying message. I am not the only one who noticed, at any rate. Every minute? Potter has loved being a cop and she has loved every minute of it, the statement insists, even if her final minutes in the field were spent annihilating a man who’d been on Earth for less time than she’d been a police officer. I suspect she means it.
Daunte Wright and the Grammar of Kim Potter’s Resignation

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“People can pit our communities against each other,” Yang told NBC Asian America. “But the reality is that I’m out here organizing with Black organizers. The reality is that many of us know this system is not built for you if you’re not a white person.”
Asian Americans in Minneapolis support Black community after Daunte Wright's death


I never thought in a million years that this would happen," Chyna Whitaker, the mother of Daunte Wright's 2-year-old son, said in a news conference Friday. "I'm just really hurt for my son because he doesn't have his father now."

Wright Jr. was born prematurely and was what Whitaker's mother described as a "miracle baby" and her only grandchild. "My focus is to make sure he's OK, and that he is safe, and has a happy life, and that we have good memories to give him of his father," she said.

Whitaker said she is still processing Wright's death after he was shot and killed by a police officer on Sunday. "It's kind of stressful on me because I really don't want to do this by myself," she said.

"I just want justice to be served," Whitaker said.
Chyna Whitaker, the mother of Daunte Wright's son: "I just want justice to be served"

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Friday they were partnering with the Minnesota Lynx, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, and Brooklyn Nets in auctioning off “signed, player-issued shirts.”

Fans will be afforded the chance to bid on the “With Liberty and Justice For ALL” warm-up shirts worn by all teams partaking in games at the Target Center this week in Minneapolis, as a response to the tragic death of Daunte Wright. The auction is currently open and will wrap up following the final buzzer of Friday night’s Timberwolves-Heat game.
Timberwolves, Lynx, Nets, Bucks, Heat Team Up For Auction To Support Daunte Wright's Family

 

[SaguaroSpirit]

“People can pit our communities against each other,” Yang told NBC Asian America. “But the reality is that I’m out here organizing with Black organizers. The reality is that many of us know this system is not built for you if you’re not a white person.”
Asian Americans in Minneapolis support Black community after Daunte Wright's death


I never thought in a million years that this would happen," Chyna Whitaker, the mother of Daunte Wright's 2-year-old son, said in a news conference Friday. "I'm just really hurt for my son because he doesn't have his father now."

Wright Jr. was born prematurely and was what Whitaker's mother described as a "miracle baby" and her only grandchild. "My focus is to make sure he's OK, and that he is safe, and has a happy life, and that we have good memories to give him of his father," she said.

Whitaker said she is still processing Wright's death after he was shot and killed by a police officer on Sunday. "It's kind of stressful on me because I really don't want to do this by myself," she said.

"I just want justice to be served," Whitaker said.
Chyna Whitaker, the mother of Daunte Wright's son: "I just want justice to be served"

I swear I had seen reported that DW's child was a girl...

 

[Apollo]

As well as that she used the word 'Taser' 4 times that we know of.
Awaiting her service record.

Yes!!! She's holding her familiar gun and loudly calls it a taser x4. You would think something in her brain would kick in and say ''No!! Wrong!!''

 

[cvaldez1975]

I swear I had seen reported that DW's child was a girl...

ive only seen pix w a son

 

[SaguaroSpirit]

ive only seen pix w a son

I guess the early first reports must have been confused or something.