Hundreds of people joined Daunte Wright’s family and friends on a march through the Minneapolis suburb where he was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop three weeks earlier.
Demonstrators on Sunday called for police reform and more serious charges against the officer who killed Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, on April 11.
The crowd gathered in the neighborhood where Kimberly Potter, who is white, fatally shot Wright as he struggled with police. Potter’s body camera recorded her shouting “Taser! Taser!” before she fired, and the city’s former police chief said he believed she meant to use her stun gun.
The group walked several miles to the Brooklyn Center Police Department where his mother, Katie Wright, called on the crowd to keep saying her son’s name.
“We’re going to continue to be in these streets, on social media, at the police station. … Like I’ve always said, it’s never gonna be justice for us,” she said. “But we want 100% accountability.”
Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter in Wright’s killing, which Katie Wright said was not enough. He was killed as the Minneapolis area already was on heightened alert during the trial of Derek Chauvin in George Floyd’s death. Chauvin was convicted April 20.
Johnathon McClellan, president of the Minnesota Justice Coalition, told protesters that his group is demanding that additional charges be brought against Potter. He also said the coalition plans to pressure elected officials to support police reform, the Star Tribune reported.
Demonstrators shut down traffic a couple of times before arriving at the police station, which is secured by concrete barriers and fencing.
Wright’s name was spelled out in air fresheners attached to the fencing. Wright’s mother said he told her on the phone that he was pulled over for an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.
Police have said they pulled Wright over for an expired registration, and then discovered that he had a warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge. Potter fatally shot Wright seconds after he pulled away from officers as they tried to arrest him.
